BBC iPlayer breaks new records over Christmas

* BBC iPlayer notched up a massive 145 million requests for programmes in December 2010, breaking its own record for the third month in a row
* Top Gear dominated the most popular TV shows on BBC iPlayer with the two specials being watched almost 1.3 million times each
* Requests for BBC programmes on BBC iPlayer up 27% from this time last year
* BBC iPlayer on Sony’s Playstation 3 received record numbers of requests, 31% up month on month to a new high of 7 million requests

Fresh off the back of celebrating its third birthday, the BBC iPlayer broke records for the third month in a row, topping over 145 million requests for programmes during December 2010.

This new record is up 27% from December 2009 and includes new individual records for total amount of TV requests (89.7 million), total requests for programmes through BBC iPlayer on Virgin Media (23.9 million) and total requests for programmes through BBC iPlayer on Sony’s Playstation 3, (7 million) up 31%, month on month.

Daniel Danker, General Manager, Programmes and On Demand, said: “These figures are a fantastic way to start the new year and I’m looking forward to building on these while we continue to evolve and improve BBC iPlayer. In December we saw huge growth of BBC iPlayer on game consoles, connected TVs, and mobiles phones. We’re seeing impressive audience appreciation for our TV and mobile experiences, and I anticipate that growth on these devices will significantly outpace traditional BBC iPlayer use in 2011.”

Top Gear continued its dominance at the top of charts for the Top 20 most popular TV programmes in December with almost 1.3 million requests for each Top Gear special, while Lord Alan Sugar’s search for his new apprentice proved popular with the final five episodes all landing in the top 10. Rounding out the top 10 most requested programmes were Matt Lucas and David Walliams’s new airport based comedy, Come Fly With Me charting at number five, with over 780 thousand requests for episode one and the traditional Christmas Day episodes of Doctor Who and EastEnders, receiving over 700,000 and 600,000 requests respectively.

Jana Bennett, BBC Director of Vision, added: “Large numbers of viewers watched the BBC’s channels this Christmas but at the same time a record number were also using BBC iPlayer. This shows how complementary and essential BBC iPlayer is as part of today’s viewing.”
Notes to Editors

Monthly summary: December 2010

For the full monthly performance pack for November 2010, visit the BBC Internet Blog.

In total BBC iPlayer received 145 million requests for TV and radio programmes in December 2010. This was the third month in a row that BBC iPlayer broke it’s total number of requests record, and is a year-on-year increase of 27%.

Three more records were smashed in December.

Total number of requests for TV programmes were at an all time high 89.7 million requests.

BBC iPlayer on Virgin Media saw a new record of 23.9 million requests received.

Requests for programmes via BBC iPlayer on Sony’s Playstation 3 reached 7 million, which is massive increase of 31% month-on-month .

Top 20 TV Programmes, Dec 2010

Top Gear USA Road Trip – 1,294,000
Top Gear Middle East Special – 1,260,000
The Apprentice Series 6 Episode 12 – 892,000
The Apprentice Series 6 Episode 9 – 849,000
Come Fly With Me Episode 1 – 783,000
The Apprentice Series 6 Episode 10 – 718,000
The Apprentice Series 6 Episode 11 – 718,000
Doctor Who A Christmas Carol 25/12/2010 – 716,000
The Apprentice Series 6 The Final Episode 14 – 624,000
EastEnders 25/12/10 – 610,000
The Royal Variety Performance 2010 – 595,000
Michael McIntyre – Hello Wembley! 03/12/10 – 590,000
Russell Howard’s Good News Series 3 Ep 8 – 583,000
EastEnders 27/12/10 – 525,000
EastEnders 28/12/10 – 520,000
EastEnders 26/12/10 – 510,000
EastEnders 21/12/10 – 495,000
EastEnders 14/12/10 – 493,000
EastEnders 17/12/10 – 490,000
EastEnders 13/12/10 – 481,000

Top 20 Radio Programmes, Dec 2010

The Ashes Second Test, Day 5 – 159,000
The Ashes Second Test, Day 4 – 156,000
The Ashes Third Test, Day 1 – 143,000
5 live Prem Leag Man Utd v Asnl 13/12/10 – 119,000
The Ashes Third Test, Day 2 – 109,000
Ashes Highlights Fourth Test, Day 1 – 93,000
The Ashes Fourth Test, Day 3 – 93,000
Richard Bacon FIFA World Cup 2018 Decision – 84,000
Ashes Highlights Third Test, Day 1 16/12/2010 – 81,000
The Chris Moyles Show 10/12/2010 – 77,000
The Ashes Fourth Test, Day 2 – 76,000
The Ashes Fourth Test, Day 4 – 75,000
The Now Show Series 32 Episode 5 – 73,000
The Official Chart with Reggie Yates 19/12/10 – 73,000
Ashes Highlights Fourth Test, Day 3 28/12/2010 – 73,000
The Ashes Second Test, Day 1 – 72,000
The Chris Moyles Show 14/12/2010 – 71,000
The Ashes Second Test, Day 3 – 69,000
The Ashes Second Test, Day 2 – 67,000
The Now Show Series 32 Episode 3 – 66,000