Drama, sport deliver iPlayer ‘best February’
April 10, 2018
A range of strong dramas and live sport has helped BBC iPlayer to achieve its best-ever February performance.
Across the month, more than 285 million programmes were watched by viewers, a 4 per cent year-on-year increase, with average daily requests of 10.2 million.
The first episodes of new drama series Requiem and Collateral were the most popular programmes of the month, with 1.9 and 1.7 million requests respectively. McMafia continued its strong performance in January, with episodes seven and eight getting 1.4 and 1.2 million requests apiece.
Live sport also played a big role in the month, with the Winter Olympics, FA Cup and Six Nations all contributing to an increase in overall live viewing in BBC iPlayer in February. Live viewing accounted for 21 per cent of all requests, the highest proportion since June 2017.
“February was a record-breaking month for BBC iPlayer with new drama titles such as Requiem and Collateral leading the way,” reported Dan McGolpin, controller of programming and daytime for the BBC. “McMafia continued its strong performance from January with the full series attracting viewers beyond the transmission of the final episode. It’s also great to see an increasing number of viewers finding top-quality live sport on iPlayer from the Winter Olympics to the Six Nations to the FA Cup.”