BBC iPlayer has recorded a record start to 2018 as the first episode of crime drama McMafia was streamed 3.4 million times. Three other episodes of the drama that aired later in the month also feature in the top ten most-popular BBC iPlayer programmes in January.
The first month of the New Year was also the best month on record for BBC iPlayer, building on an already strong December to reach a record-high 328 million requests across the month, a 10 per cent increase on the same month last year. There was a record average of 10.6 million daily requests for TV content in January, and requests from TV devices reached a record-high proportion of 54 per cent.
Dan McGolpin, controller of programming and daytime for the BBC, said: “2018 has got off to a flying start, thanks in no small part to a range of gripping BBC dramas. McMafia, Hard Sun and Silent Witness dominate our most popular programmes on iPlayer for January, as does the always strong-performing EastEnders. It was also impressive to see the wildlife series Big Cats make this month’s top 5 performing series with an average of over 1 million requests per episode. It’s been a great start to the year, and we’re aiming to build on that success in the coming months.”
In addition to McMafia, other popular shows included Silent Witness, which saw 2.3 million requests, and new pre-apocalypse detective drama Hard Sun, which saw 2.2 million. Hard Sun was made available to watch on BBC iPlayer as a boxset after the first episode aired, and the first three episodes of the series all made the top 20 most-popular episodes of the month.
| Rank | Programme | Requests |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | McMafia Series 1 Episode 1 | 3,356,000 |
| 2 | Silent Witness Series 21 Moment of Surrender, Part One Episode 1 | 2,261,000 |
| 3 | Hard Sun Series 1 Episode 1 | 2,191,000 |
| 4 | McMafia Series 1 Episode 2 | 2,044,000 |
| 5 | McMafia Series 1 Episode 3 | 1,793,000 |
| 6 | EastEnders 02/01/2018 | 1,585,000 |
| 7 | McMafia Series 1 Episode 4 | 1,488,000 |
| 8 | EastEnders 04/01/2018 | 1,476,000 |
| 9 | EastEnders 01/01/2018 | 1,426,000 |
| 10 | Hard Sun Series 1 Episode 2 | 1,277,000 |
