ITV has announced significant growth in audiences during 2019 for its online ITV Hub, but the celebrations were short lived when the player crashed at the start of the winter series of Love Island.
Viewing hours for ITV Hub grew by 13% in 2019, taking the broadcaster over the 500 million hours viewed level for the first time. It had already met its 30 million users target two years ahead of schedule.
Steve Forde, director of digital products at ITV, said: “Reaching this figure demonstrates that not only do viewers love both the Hub’s content and using the service, but that it has evolved to seamlessly allow mass surges in viewing on simulcast and on-demand and in doing so has established itself as one of the biggest video on demand platforms in the UK.
The most-watched show was Love Island, so it came as something of a surprise when demand for Sunday night’s new season took the reality-dating show and its new young cast crashed the player.
A caption featuring host Caroline Flack – absent because of an upcoming court appearance – led fans to accuse the former host of sabotage.
