Documentary series Planet Earth II, fronted by veteran broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, is the most popular show of the year so far.
With the trend for end of year lists, before the year has actually ended, in full swing. the BBC said the series had topped the list of most requested programmes. First episode Islands was requested more than 3.8 million times.
The BBC said that 2016 has so far been BBC iPlayer’s biggest year ever, receiving on average 243 million monthly requests.
October and November saw the highest average number of daily requests BBC iPlayer has ever seen, at 11.7 million in each month.
BBC Three, which ceased linear transmissions early in the year performed well, with drama Thirteen’s first episode requested more than 3.2 million times, the second most popular episode of any series across the year so far. The channel’s comedy drama Fleabag also performed well, being requested 6.7 million times across the series.
2017 may be the real test as the channel beds in with its new format.
It was a big year for live viewing on BBC iPlayer, with Olympics events being streamed live more than 30 million times across the summer. During Euro 2016, the England vs Wales football match had more than 2 million requests to watch the match live, becoming BBC iPlayer’s third most popular programme and most-watched live event of the year.
