We already knew what a great catch-up-tv service the BBC iPlayer is, but now we have confirmation of that fact from user experience consultancy Webcredible. The company carried out a study which looked at all UK catch up tv services came up with some interesting results, the most ironic being that the Sky Player which somes from the richest broadcaster Sky, came bottom!

Webcredible looked at the usability levels of video-on-demand catch0up services supplied by all the major broadcasters. Comprising of 6 broadcasters which were the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, STV and Sky TV and compared them with their ’10 best practice usability guidelines’. Results were determined by how each site offered each of the guidelines including ease of use for a viewer to search for a specific show, extra features such as social networking options were also used.

The results gave the top rated iPlayer first position with 88% in usability stakes. Next came the  Scottish TV offering,STV Player with 76%. The channel Five offering, Demand Five came third with 72% and 4oD from Channel 4 came fourth followed by the ITV Player.

The Sky Player with a measly 55% got a low score as it failed to “clearly explain” its different subscription packages to users on the site. Although they incredibly excused their service as it was the only paid-for model out of the six services analysed, “had admittedly a more complex commercialised offering”?

On the iPlayer, Webcredible said that it offered viewers ‘the most usable video on demand offering’. Webcredible director Trenton Moss, said: “Despite the overall high scores, it’s surprising that the sites reviewed do not make more of an effort to engage their users.

“The functionality offered by many of the VOD sites is very similar, so user engagement is an area where sites can really look to differentiate themselves. This lack of engagement is particularly important for broadcaster VOD [services] to compete with sites like YouTube and new market players such as SeeSaw.”

So there you have it, conclusive proof that you dont have to pay high monthly charges (Sky) to get the best catch up tv service.

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