Normal People is the year’s most popular series on BBC iPlayer, which has broken 5 billion annual requests for the first time
Romantic drama Normal People is BBC iPlayer’s most popular series of 2020 in a record-breaking year.*
It’s pleasing to see the sensational adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People take top slot as the biggest series of the year and there have been other brand new drama series among the most popular, such as Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You, The Nest and The Secrets She Keeps as well as hugely popular returners like Killing Eve and The Split."
There have so far been over 62 million requests to stream the BBC’s adaptation of Sally Rooney’s beloved novel on iPlayer across the year, as viewers were captivated by Marianne and Connell’s evolving love story.
This year there have been 5.3 billion requests to stream content on iPlayer across January to November, 33 per cent ahead of the same period last year, and already 850 million requests higher than the whole of 2019.
Killing Eve has once again been a huge hit, with 39 million requests for the third series of the spy thriller. Other big successes this year include new programmes like Aussie drama The Secrets She Keeps, Mike Bartlett’s Life, depicting the complex and troubled lives of four families in Manchester, Michaela Coel’s incredible I May Destroy You, and tense thriller The Nest, which kept viewers gripped and a little envious of those spectacular Scottish locations. There were also strong performances from returning shows like The Split, and Silent Witness. Outside of drama, MasterChef continues to prove popular with viewers, and the final series of This Country, telling the hilarious story of Kerry and Kurtan’s Cotswold-based escapades, has been the biggest comedy of the year.
The most popular series** on iPlayer so far this year are:
Rank | Programme | Series | Requests |
1 | Normal People | 62,706,000 | |
2 | Killing Eve | Series 3 | 39,344,000 |
3 | MasterChef | Series 16 | 22,206,000 |
4 | The Split | Series 2 | 18,939,000 |
5 | Silent Witness | Series 23 | 17,181,000 |
6 | The Secrets She Keeps | 16,866,000 | |
7 | Life | 15,838,000 | |
8 | I May Destroy You | 15,735,000 | |
9 | This Country | Series 3 | 15,341,000 |
10 | The Nest | 14,684,000 |
Killing Eve’s dramatic return for series three is the biggest single episode of the year so far on iPlayer, with 7.4 million requests to stream the first episode of the smash hit thriller’s third series. Normal People’s debut episode takes the second spot, with over 6.3 million requests. Other strong performers from new dramas include the first episodes of The Nest, Dracula, The Secrets She Keeps and recent hit Roadkill, while drama series The Split’s return and the first episode of comedy This Country’s final series also proved popular.
The top ten most popular episodes per series*** on iPlayer so far are:
Rank | Programme | Series | Episode | Requests |
1 | Killing Eve | Series 3 | Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey | 7,398,000 |
2 | Normal People | Episode 1 | 6,378,000 | |
3 | The Nest | Episode 1 | 4,105,000 | |
4 | Dracula | The Rules of the Beast | 3,489,000 | |
5 | The Split | Series 2 | Episode 1 | 3,458,000 |
6 | The Secrets She Keeps | Episode 1 | 3,336,000 | |
7 | This Country | Series 3 | A Letter from Slugs | 3,072,000 |
8 | Roadkill | Episode 1 | 2,998,000 | |
9 | Life | Episode 1 | 2,891,000 | |
10 | The Salisbury Poisonings | Episode 1 | 2,670,000 |
EastEnders has also had a fantastic year, with the long-running soap seeing 163 million requests in 2020 so far, in spite of an extended hiatus earlier in the year after a break in filming due to the Coronavirus outbreak. It returned with a bang in September, and has since seen a very strong 62 million requests. During the three months it wasn’t on air, fans were able to revisit Walford Square of times gone by on iPlayer with EastEnders 2008, plus a selection of classic, iconic episodes from the show’s past and a special look behind the scenes with Stacey Dooley.
BBC iPlayer has also proved a fantastic home for children this year. As the UK entered lockdown for the first time, iPlayer launched a special children’s experience, giving kids their own profile with a specially curated iPlayer experience built around content from CBeebies, CBBC and other suitable BBC programmes and brands. Children’s content has been especially popular this year, particularly during lockdown, with Bing, Hey Duggee, Numberblocks, In the Night Garden and Peter Rabbit all top performers.
BBC News has also had a significant year on iPlayer, as more people than ever looked to iPlayer for updates on current events. There have been over 480 million requests for News content on iPlayer across the year, up 91 per cent on January to November in 2019. The biggest single day for news content on iPlayer was 31October, when the second national lockdown was announced, with 5.4 million requests. In contrast there were 4.6 million requests on 23 March, the day the Prime Minister announced the first lockdown, while the reaction following the US election on 5 November resulted in 3 million requests.
In spite of many changes to the live event schedule this year, as the Olympics, Glastonbury and the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament were all rescheduled for next year, there were still terrific performances for the FA Cup, a special virtual Glastonbury and Premier League matches live on the BBC for the first time ever.
Dan McGolpin, controller of BBC iPlayer, says: “It’s been a tough year for so many of us but through two national lockdowns and many difficult months BBC iPlayer has been there to keep us entertained and well informed wherever you are throughout the UK, seeing 5 billion requests for the first time ever.
“It’s pleasing to see the sensational adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People take top slot as the biggest series of the year and there have been other brand new drama series among the most popular, such as Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You, The Nest and The Secrets She Keeps as well as hugely popular returners like Killing Eve and The Split.
“Top comedy series was the third instalment of This Country and top entertainment series was MasterChef, with Strictly yet to complete its run. There’s a series waiting for us all on BBC iPlayer this Christmas and plenty of films to enjoy before the new year when we will be widening choice even further as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air returns to the BBC and Pretty Little Liars arrives for the first time.”
* All data for 01 January 2020 to 30 November 2020.
** Not including continuing series, sport or children’s content
*** Not including children’s content
RB
