BBC publishes Live +7 figures for May

The BBC has published its Live +7 audience data for May 2011 alongside the latest BBC iPlayer results.

The new figures for Live +7 reveal that Lord Sugar’s current group of would-be apprentices are proving as popular as ever with more than 10 million people watching their every move, a figure only beaten by EastEnders which drew in more than 11 million viewers.

The new Live +7 information measures the total audience consuming content across all platforms, including live, recordings, narrative repeats, BBC iPlayer and HD for seven days after transmission. The system makes extensive use of BARB data and collates these ratings relating to a particular programme or episode alongside BBC iPlayer stats.

Highlights from the latest set of Live +7 figures for May show the following programmes increased their audience as follows:

- EastEnders added an extra 2.4 million viewers to its 03.05.11 episode giving it a total of 11.02 million viewers.
- The Apprentice increased its viewers from an overnight figure of 7.45 million to a Live +7 total of 10.15 million viewers for the episode broadcast on 25.05.11
- A total of 9.9 million viewers consumed the episode of Doctor Who broadcast on 14.05.11
- On BBC Three Russell Howard’s Good News remained hugely popular with its audience tripling from an overnight figure of 1 million to a Live +7 total of 3.5 million.
- BBC Three’s long-running comedy Two Pints Of Lager remains hugely popular with audiences increasing from 548,000 to 2.5 million when Live +7 is added in, an increase of 360%

BBC iPlayer received 159 million requests for TV and radio programmes in May, an increase of 18 million from the previous month. The Apprentice and Doctor Who were the most popular TV programmes while Radio 4’s The Unbelievable Truth was the most popular Radio programme. Click here to see the full BBC iPlayer monthly performance pack: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2011/06/iplayer_performance_pack_may_2.html

Notes to Editors

What is Live+7?

Live+7 is a measurement of all viewing in the seven days following first broadcast. It is the BBC’s response to how to measure TV viewing in the new media landscape. In the past, a programme was broadcast once, at a set time, and people either watched it there and then or not at all. The overnight audience figure the next day reflected the whole story.

Now audiences can watch a programme live as it is first broadcast, record or bookmark it to watch an hour, day or week later, watch a scheduled repeat on another channel, watch it on demand on the BBC iPlayer – or a combination of all these. The BBC has therefore combined its audience data collection sources to tackle the measurement problem this created.

How does it work?

Programmes watched through a TV set are measured by BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board). To their figures we add viewing on other platforms such as our own iPlayer. Adding these sources together we get a single figure for viewing of one programme over seven days.

About BARB

BARB started reporting UK television audiences in 1981, providing the industry-standard audience measurement service for television broadcasters and the advertising industry. It is a not-for-profit limited company owned by BBC, ITV, Channel 4, five, BSkyB and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.