New devices boost BBC iPlayer

The growing popularity of connected TVs, smartphones and tablets have helped the BBC to a record-breaking 1.94 billion TV and radio programme requests across all platforms during 2011.

Although computers remain the most popular platform to access the iPlayer, accounting for to thirds of requests across the year, the trend towards the new devices is clear.

In December alone, 7 million programmes were requested on connected TV sets, a year-on-year increase of over +1000%, while mobile phones and tablets recorded 13 million and 10 million requests – year-on-year increases of +163% and +596% respectively.

The BBC has near-universal availability on such devices, though other major broadcasters ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 are beginning to catch up, while Sky also reports significant demand for Sky Go within its subscriber base.

Daniel Danker, general manager, programmes and on demand, said: “While 2011 was a remarkable year for BBC iPlayer across the board, the real story was growth of iPlayer on TVs, mobile phones, and tablets, outpacing PC growth many times over. Having established itself as a must-have app for smartphone users and the gold-standard for TV on the go, we see huge potential for BBC iPlayer on the living room set in 2012 – the natural home for great TV – as audiences switch on to the benefits of connected TV.”

Installs of mobile and tablet devices helped the BBC to its best-ever week in the days after Christmas. The most popular day over this period was January 2, 2012 (a bank holiday in the UK), which saw a record 5.4 million TV programme requests on one day, with Sherlock the most-watched programme with 623,000 – the most requests seen for any one programme in one 24-hour period.

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