Connected TV is king for BBC iPlayer over the festive period
EastEnders (pictured), Mrs Brown’s Boys, The Apprentice and And Then There Were None were the most popular shows on BBC iPlayer over the festive period.
Published: 8 January 2016
Whether it was bringing the family together to watch cliff-hangers from Albert Square, drama like And Then There Were None or hilarious antics from Mrs Brown, more and more people were watching BBC iPlayer on the biggest screen in the house.
Connected TVs were the most popular devices to watch BBC iPlayer on over the ‘festive fortnight’ – with unique browsers on connected TVs up 32 per cent on the same period in 2014. Connected TVs accounted for 38 per cent of unique browsers, followed by 24 per cent on tablets, 22 per cent on computers and 17 per cent on mobiles.
Mobile and tablet usage still remained popular, with 391,000 app downloads throughout - peaking on Christmas Day when there were 90,000 downloads of the app.
EastEnders delivered five of the top six most-requested episodes this year, with The Apprentice Final in second place and the top ‘Christmas special’ being Mrs Brown’s Boys. The ‘festive fortnight’ includes BBC iPlayer data from 21 December 2015 to 31 December 2015. The top 20 most-requested programmes were:
| Programme | Requests |
1 | EastEnders (25/12/2015) | 1,459,300 |
2 | The Apprentice Series 11 The Final | 1,306,500 |
3 | EastEnders (26/12/2015) | 1,275,400 |
4 | EastEnders (29/12/2015) | 1,053,900 |
5 | EastEnders (24/12/2015) | 1,051,300 |
6 | EastEnders (28/12/2015) | 975,200 |
7 | Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas Specials 2015 | 969,200 |
8 | Luther Series 4 Episode 2 | 934,500 |
9 | And Then There Were None Episode 1 | 886,500 |
10 | EastEnders (21/12/2015) | 871,800 |
11 | EastEnders (23/12/2015) | 844,600 |
12 | EastEnders (22/12/2015) | 833,900 |
13 | Call the Midwife Series 5 Christmas Special | 778,900 |
14 | Doctor Who The Husbands of River Song | 770,400 |
15 | And Then There Were None Episode 2 | 720,600 |
16 | Stick Man | 615,200 |
17 | Luther Series 4 Episode 1 | 566,800 |
18 | And Then There Were None Episode 3 | 558,500 |
19 | Catherine Tate's Nan Series 1 Nanger Management | 498,900 |
20 | Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show | 462,100 |
Programmes are on BBC iPlayer for 30 days – so data for programmes still available on BBC iPlayer outside of this period is not included.
Dan Taylor-Watt, Head of BBC iPlayer, says: “Christmas was an extremely popular time for watching programmes on BBC iPlayer - and not just people viewing on computers, tablets and phones. We’ve seen a real surge in people watching the best of the BBC through connected TVs. So, whether it was bringing the family together to watch cliff-hangers from Albert Square, drama like And Then There Were None or hilarious antics from Mrs Brown, more and more people were watching BBC iPlayer on the biggest screen in the house.”
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