BBC Worldwide has extended the Global BBC iPlayer into the autumn after the service topped 1 million downloads.
The trial has now been running for a full 12 months and puts the iPlayer into 16 markets across Western Europe, Canada and Australia.
In its annual review BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s commercial arm, said that in 2011/12 sales to video on demand services including both established broadcasters and over the top services had tripled.
John Smith, CEO, BBC Worldwide said: “BBC Worldwide has proven itself to be a leader in the digital sphere this year. Through embracing advances in technology and striking strategic partnerships with emerging companies, our brands have evolved across a host of platforms. We have also ensured that more audiences get to experience the wealth of content from both from the BBC and UK creative industry, through placing ourselves at the heart of the digital revolution. ”
In 2011/12, sales to video-on-demand services, both new over-the-top operators as well as established broadcasters, have almost tripled, playing an important role in the growth of our digital revenues and digital reach.
The various digital businesses now represent 12.8% of revenue, an increase of 58% on the previous year.
The company said the revenues demonstrated how it has embraced new platforms, such as the web, apps, social networking and connected TV.
Other successes for the year include growth across paid for, freemium and ad supported apps with 12.5m downloaded over the past year, taking the total to date to 25m.
The BBC News app, which is consistently ranked in the top three BBC Worldwide apps added to the success after gaining a further 10.3m downloads in June on iOS and Android devices.
