The availability of the BBC iPlayer on the Nintendo Wii and Sony PS3 games consoles have helped deliver a record 100 million requests to the catch-up TV service. A significant increase was recorded in the last two weeks of December, requests from the PlayStation 3 increased by two percentage points to make up 8% of all TV requests in December, and in the first full month since its November relaunch the Wii added another 3%.
Since November 2009 the two devices have seen a 74% increase in iPlayer usage leading to one in eight requests to come from a games console. The growth is logical given that the devices allow viewers to watch iPlayer content directly on their TV sets rather than a PC. Over 20 devices are now capable of delivering iPlayer content.
The list of most requested programmes was topped by 1.3 million requests for David Tennant’s final appearance as Doctor Who. Over Christmas the most popular TV programme on the iPlayer was Top Gear’s Bolivia Special. EastEnders, Gavin & Stacey and Doctor Who all performed strongly.
BBC iPlayer titles – TV programmes – 21 December 2009 to 3 January 2010
| Programme | Episode | Channel | Total streams | |
| 1 | Top Gear: series 14 | Ep. 6 | BBC Two | 1,088,700 |
| 2 | Doctor Who: The End Of Time | Ep. 1 & 2 | BBC One | 1,359,500 |
| 3 | Top Gear: series 14 | Ep. 5 | BBC Two | 688,300 |
| 4 | Gavin & Stacey: series 3 | Ep. 5 | BBC One | 538,200 |
| 5 | EastEnders | 25.12.09 | BBC One | 455,100 |
| 6 | EastEnders | 26.12.09 | BBC One | 441,000 |
| 7 | EastEnders | 29.12.09 | BBC One | 436,400 |
| 8 | Pirates Of The Caribbean | 26.12.09 | BBC One | 422,600 |
| 9 | Gavin & Stacey: series 3 | Ep. 6 | BBC One | 410,000 |
| 10 | Mock The Week: series 7 | Ep. 13 | BBC Two | 407,800 |
| 11 | EastEnders | 31.12.09 | BBC One | 407,200 |
| 12 | EastEnders | 28.12.09 | BBC One | 390,200 |
| 13 | EastEnders | 1.1.10 | BBC One | 372,400 |
| 14 | Outnumbered | 27.12.09 | BBC One | 366,500 |
| 15 | Waterloo Road: series 5 | Ep. 9 | BBC One | 330,000 |
| 16 | The Incredibles | 25.12.09 | BBC One | 323,400 |
| 17 | EastEnders | 1.1.10 | BBC One | 318,100 |
| 18 | EastEnders | 22.12.09 | BBC One | 312,000 |
| 19 | EastEnders | 24.12.09 | BBC One | 305,700 |
| 20 | Waterloo Road: series 5 | Ep. 10 | BBC One | 303,700 |
Source: BBC iStat
BBC iPlayer, Requests by Platform Type
