With the Xbox 360’s new Metro dashboard, there’s been a bunch of new entertainment apps available for the console. If you’re in the US or UK at least. As per usual, we’ve got close to diddly squat – though it is quite nice that YouTube, Sky News and Muzu.tv all work from within South Africa (though you need a UK based account to access some of them).

Still, it seems that those who can use the new video and music services offered by Xbox Live are using them.

According to Xbox’s Major Nelson, entertainment app usage is on the increase. Here’re the stats:

• The hours of video consumed globally on Xbox LIVE increased 140 percent from 2010 to 2011.
• In December more than 60 percent of U.S. Xbox LIVE Gold members used entertainment apps on Xbox LIVE – for an average of an hour a day each.
• The number of people using entertainment apps on Xbox LIVE increased by nearly 50 percent globally from November to December.

Personally, I think percentage based stats without reference numbers are essentially meaningless. Two, increased by 50% is three! Impressive. What id does mean though, is that if more people are using their Xboxes to watch TV and listen to music, fewer of them are using them for games; which for a games console, isn’t a good thing. While I appreciate Microsoft’s efforts to add more value to their product and take control of the living room, they need to remember that most people bought their consoles to play games on them.

We are committed to enhancing and expanding our global entertainment offerings on Xbox LIVE in 2012. Moving forward, you can expect to see more of the world’s leading entertainment providers coming to Xbox and a continued rollout of additional entertainment apps,” the Major said on his blog.