BBC iPlayer records best ever results for December 2008

The BBC's iPlayer has delivered record end-of-year figures, with 41m requests to view BBC TV programmes, making December 2008 its biggest month since launch.

The service saw a surge in traffic from November's 35m requests and ended the year with a total of 271m requests to stream or download content.

During the seven-day period from Christmas Day to 31 December, 8m requests were made, with Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death the most requested programme.

The other top programmes were the Doctor Who Christmas Special, the Top Gear Vietnam special, the Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special and The Royle Family.

Erik Huggers, director of BBC Future Media & Technology, said, "This confirms that 2008 was the year of the iPlayer."

BBC Three also announced record figures for the Christmas and New Year period, achieving its best ever week (29 December to 4 January) with a share of 5.1% among its target audience of 16-34-year-olds. The channel also recorded year-on-year growth of 16% among the target audience.

Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision, said, "This was an excellent Christmas for BBC Vision as audiences fully embraced on-demand alongside their traditional viewing. The fact that BBC One delivered 17 out of the top 20 programmes on the iPlayer and nine out of ten on traditional TV continues to prove that our channel brands remain strong across all of our platforms."

Published by: Danielle Long

Published 7th January, 2009

Add comment