ABC iPad app hits 205K downloads in 10 days

ABC late Tuesday said that its iPad app has been extremely successful in the first 10 days since launch. The TV studio saw 205,000 downloads, or about 41 percent of the 500,000 iPad owners as of Wednesday. Viewers have also seen 650,000 episodes, or almost 3.2 TV shows per person.

The company added that Internet streaming on the Apple tablet has already been successful so far. It has had "several million" ad views in the short space of time, according to an ABC representative speaking to the WSJ, and already counts several major advertisers, such as AT&T, Heineken, Lexus and Target. A future update may use the iPad's geolocation to provide ads from local ABC affiliates rather than a national network.

ABC's TV President Anne Sweeney said the network was "pleased" with the results and characterized it as a validation of the company's expansion into Internet video. While the company still plans to offer paid shows in iTunes and offers links to them from the iPad app, the new method gives users a legal way to view the same shows regardless of what they can afford while remaining successful for its creator.

Netflix has already encountered similar success on the iPad, although its subscription model lets it run without ads. A Hulu app is similarly in the works and would be part of a larger mobile strategy that would start up a subscribe-once, play-anywhere service.

By Electronista Staff

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