Record Q3 for iPlayer
October 27, 2021
Viewers flocked to BBC iPlayer between July and September 2021 (Q3), according to data revealed by the Corporation.
Programmes were streamed 1.5 billion times – up 20 per cent on the same period last year, and up 49 per cent on the same period in 2019 – making it iPlayer’s best Q3 on record.
Highlights include:
- 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 .
- Documentary 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).
- It was closely followed by EastEnders, which was streamed a huge 74 million times across the three months
“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,” declared Dan McGolpin, director of BBC iPlayer and channels. “iPlayer has something for everyone and people are using it more than ever, viewing grew 20 per cent year-on-year to our best Q3 on record and we are on track for our best ever year.”
The most watched episodes per series on BBC iPlayer between July – September were*:
| Rank | Programme | Episode | Streams |
| 1 | Vigil | Series 1 – Episode 1 | 6,779,000 |
| 2 | Euro 2020 | Final: Italy vs England | 6,031,000 |
| 3 | 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room | 2,783,000 | |
| 4 | Baptiste | Series 2 – Episode 2 | 2,715,000 |
| 5 | High: Confessions of an Ibiza Drug Mule | 2,471,000 | |
| 6 | Match of the Day | 2021/22: 11/09/2021 | 2,054,000 |
| 7 | Silent Witness | Series 24: Redemption, Part 1 | 2,022,000 |
| 8 | EastEnders | 06/08/2021 | 1,882,000 |
| 9 | Strictly Come Dancing | Series 19 – Week 1 | 1,769,000 |
| 10 | Bad Influencer: The Great Insta Con | 1,733,000 |
The most watched series on BBC iPlayer across July to September this year are**:
| Rank | Programme | Streams |
| 1 | Olympics | 90,160,000 |
| 2 | EastEnders | 74,148,000 |
| 3 | Vigil | 26,572,000 |
| 4 | Silent Witness | 23,237,000 |
| 5 | Euro 2020*** | 22,885,000 |
| 6 | Baptiste | 19,225,000 |
| 7 | Celebrity MasterChef | 17,362,000 |
| 8 | Wimbledon | 16,879,000 |
| 9 | Ghosts | 15,088,000 |
| 10 | Gossip Girl (2007-12) | 12,004,000 |
* Excluding news
** Excluding news and children’s
***This figure covers the closing stages of the tournament, overall Euro 2020 was streamed a record-breaking 75.9 million times on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport online combined