20% increase in BBC iPlayer streams

New data released by the BBC shows a significant increase in streams over the BBC iPlayer.

Submarine drama Vigil, documentary 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room and the belated Euro 2020 contributed to 1.5 billion streams in Q3, up 20% on the same period last year, and up 49% on the same period in 2019 – making it iPlayer’s best Q3 on record.

The opening episode of submarine thriller Vigil was the most-streamed programme – with 6.8 million streams during the quarter (and 7.7 million streams to date).

The UEFA Men’s Euro 2020 final between England and Italy was the second most popular programme of the quarter, streamed more than 6.0 million times.

9/11: Inside the President’s War Room took the third spot, after being streamed almost 2.8 million times

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics was the most-watched series overall across the quarter, streamed over 90 million times as fans watched Team GB bring home a massive haul of 65 medals (in total 104 million streams across both iPlayer and BBC Sport). The BBC had come in for criticism over its muted coverage of the Olympics after the EBU was outbid for the European rights, normally shared across the public service broadcasters.

Dan McGolpin, director of BBC iPlayer and channels, said: “These results show the fantastic breadth of content available for all on BBC iPlayer including the country’s biggest sporting moments, enthralling new drama series like Vigil and captivating documentaries like 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room. iPlayer has something for everyone and people are using it more than ever, viewing grew 20% year-on-year to our best Q3 on record and we are on track for our best ever year.”

The iPlayer is in the process of a rebranding, in line with a refresh of the BBC’s corporate identity. Broadband TV News