The BBC says that its iPlayer streaming platform achieved an all-time record number of viewers over Christmas week.
Programmes were streamed 177m times between 25-31 Dec 2023, up 7% on the same period the year before – and beating the previous record set in the week of 2-8 Jan 2023 when 173m programmes were streamed.
More broadly, throughout the ‘festive fortnight’ of 19 Dec 2023 - 1 Jan 2024, EastEnders’ Christmas Day episode topped the chart on iPlayer with 2.96m streams.
It was followed by the climax to the second series of Vigil (2.19m), Rick Astley bringing in the New Year (2.02m) and Call the Midwife (2.01m) and Doctor Who’s Christmas specials (1.79m).
EastEnders was also the top title on iPlayer with 26.28m streams for the ‘festive fortnight’. Vigil (10.96m), Doctor Who (10.01m), Mrs Brown’s Boys (4.64m), Death in Paradise (3.98m), Gavin & Stacey (3.96m), Call the Midwife (3.85m) and Ghosts (3.82m) also made the top ten – along with children’s favourites Bluey (10.42m) and Hey Duggee (10.12m).
The BBC also revealed that Christmas week saw 16.5m BBC accounts signed in to watch programmes on BBC iPlayer - up 5% on the same time the year before. Nearly 5m (4.9m) of those accounts were from people under 35.
Dan McGolpin, Director of BBC iPlayer and Channels, said: “It’s wonderful to see that viewers came to BBC iPlayer in record numbers over the festive period. Nowhere else would they have found the same range of high-quality British programming to keep them gripped, make them laugh or to provide companionship and news at that special time. And with a whole host of compelling drama, comedy, factual programming, entertainment and sport landing on iPlayer in 2024, viewers can look forward to a great year ahead.”
You are not signed in
Only registered users can comment on this article.
.jpg)
IBC launches study to map the media technology talent pipeline
IBC has launched How Did You Get Here?, a study designed to better understand how people enter and build careers in media technology.
Netflix kicks of landmark distribution deal with France’s TF1
Leading French broadcaster TF1’s live channels and streamer TF1+ are now available on Netflix’s platform in France following a landmark distribution deal between the two companies.
UK government sets out plans to give prominence for PSB news on social media
The UK government has set out plans to make social media platforms such as YouTube and Facebook give greater prominence to news from public service media.
Warner Bros. Discovery teams with AWS for agentic AI ad-tech
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has partnered with cloud provider Amazon Web Services (AWS) to develop its next-generation advertising experiences built with AWS agentic AI.
Active International picks Comcast Technology Solutions
Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) has announced that Active International, the global media and corporate trade group, is using Comcast AdFusion to modernise and scale its broadcast ad traffic and creative distribution operations.
