BBC iPlayer is on track for over 6 billion streams in 2021, representing its best-ever year.
Line of Duty has been named as the biggest show of 2021. The Police corruption thriller scored both the most popular episode and the best performing boxset of the year.
The first episode of the series has been streamed 9.2 million times on iPlayer since it first aired in March, and the boxset of all six series has been streamed 137 million times across the year.
“It’s been an incredible year for BBC iPlayer with a unique mix of programmes driving more viewing than ever before. Line of Duty tops the tables and it’s fantastic to see so many other brand-new drama series also featuring highly alongside those memorable sporting moments from last summer and some of the best documentary series of the year,” said Dan McGolpin, director of BBC iPlayer and channels.
As well as Line of Duty, 2021’s biggest episodes also included submarine thriller Vigil, prison drama Time, and the thrilling conclusion of Euro 2020 with the final between Italy and England. Other big hitters on iPlayer included exotic crime thriller The Serpent, Northern Ireland-based police drama Bloodlands and Welsh mystery series The Pact. Consolidated figures also showed 10m watched Bloodlands and 7.3m watched The Pact within their first 28 days.
Vigil, Time, The Serpent, and Italy vs England in the final of Euro 2020 also make iPlayer’s top ten episodes per programmes of the year.
