iPlayer sees record-breaking Xmas
January 6, 2021
The BBC has seen record-breaking year-on-year growth of BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds over the Christmas holidays, as more people consumed its content digitally.
On iPlayer, new dramas The Serpent and Black Narcissus, the Christmas antics in EastEnders and Call The Midwife – together with the Spider-Man: Homecoming movie helped smash records for viewing, with iPlayer seeing 245 million streams over the holidays (December 21st 2020 to January 3rd 2021) – up by 16 per cent on the ‘festive fortnight’ last year.
New Year’s Day was the biggest day in that time, with 21.2 million streams, the most popular New Year ever on iPlayer (up +18 per cent year-on-year), when viewers enjoyed a range of content – including the box set of the new real-life crime-drama, The Serpent, which early data suggests will become one of the BBC’s biggest binged dramas of the year.
There were also 7.93 million unique browsers on New Year’s Day – breaking the record for unique browsers visiting iPlayer in a single day. This beats the 7.8 million set on 31 October 2020 – when further lockdown restrictions in England were announced.
On BBC Sounds, there were more than 45 million plays in the same fortnight, an increase of 36 per cent compared to last year. The most popular podcasts were Grounded with Louis Theroux (the fortnight saw new episodes with Ruby Wax and Frankie Boyle), Newscast and new sci fi drama The Cipher starring Anya Chalotra and Chance Perdomo. Listeners tuned in to the Today programme and this year’s Christmas guest editors; it was the most listened to radio programme on BBC Sounds, followed by Ken Bruce and Radio 1’s Anthems. Many listeners also enjoyed A Promised Land by Barack Obama over Christmas and New Year.
Charlotte Moore, Chief Content Officer says: “The unparalleled range of programmes on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds delivered a record breaking Christmas this year. More people chose a personalised version of the BBC and sought out content on a scale we’ve not seen before from the breadth of entertainment and escapism available.”
The top 20 individual episodes over the festive fortnight, per title, on BBC iPlayer were:
| Rank | Programme | Episode | Streams |
|
1 |
EastEnders | 25/12/2020 |
1,524,000 |
|
2 |
Call the Midwife | Christmas Special 2020 |
1,487,000 |
|
3 |
Spider-Man: Homecoming |
1,459,000 |
|
|
4 |
Black Narcissus |
1,322,000 |
|
|
5 |
The Serpent |
1,019,000 |
|
|
6 |
Mrs Brown’s Boys | 2020 Specials – Mammy of the People |
962,000 |
|
7 |
Doctor Who | Revolution of the Daleks 01/01/21 |
941,000 |
|
8 |
Strictly Come Dancing | Series 18 – Christmas Special |
883,000 |
|
9 |
Gavin & Stacey | Christmas Special 2019 |
832,000 |
|
10 |
Alicia Keys Rocks New Year’s Eve | Part 1 |
799,000 |
|
11 |
The Queen | 2020 |
797,000 |
|
12 |
Happy New Year Live! |
780,000 |
|
|
13 |
Zog and the Flying Doctors |
775,000 |
|
|
14 |
Match of the Day | 2020/21 – 26/12/2020 |
741,000 |
|
15 |
His Dark Materials | Series 2 – episode 7 – Æsahættr |
643,000 |
|
16 |
Ghosts | The Ghost of Christmas |
634,000 |
|
17 |
The Great British Sewing Bee | 2020 Specials – Celebrity Christmas Special |
619,000 |
|
18 |
Dunkirk |
619,000 |
|
|
19 |
Have I Got News for You | Have I Got 30 Years for You |
609,000 |
|
20 |
Motherland | Christmas Special |
589,000 |
The top 20 programmes over the festive fortnight on BBC iPlayer:
| Rank | Programme | Streams |
|
1 |
EastEnders |
13,852,000 |
|
2 |
Hey Duggee |
8,034,000 |
|
3 |
Bing |
5,690,000 |
|
4 |
The Serpent |
3,935,000 |
|
5 |
Gavin & Stacey |
3,790,000 |
|
6 |
Black Narcissus |
2,899,000 |
|
7 |
Breakfast |
2,877,000 |
|
8 |
Mrs Brown’s Boys |
2,761,000 |
|
9 |
His Dark Materials |
2,653,000 |
|
10 |
The Vicar of Dibley |
2,519,000 |
|
11 |
Doctor Who |
2,425,000 |
|
12 |
Call the Midwife |
2,392,000 |
|
13 |
Numberblocks |
2,363,000 |
|
14 |
Not Going Out |
2,173,000 |
|
15 |
Match of the Day |
2,128,000 |
|
16 |
Spiral |
1,982,000 |
|
17 |
Waterloo Road |
1,951,000 |
|
18 |
MasterChef: The Professionals |
1,888,000 |
|
19 |
Ghosts |
1,709,000 |
|
20 |
Waffle the Wonder Dog |
1,663,000 |