BBC iPlayer enjoyed its best-ever quarter between January and March 2022 – with viewers streaming programmes a record 1.83 billion times during the three-month period.
The success of new dramas such as The Tourist, The Responder and This Is Going to Hurt alongside returning shows like The Apprentice, Peaky Blinders and Killing Eve all contributed to the record-breaking figures, the corporation said.
And the figures mark an increase of 100 million programme views on the platform compared to the same three months last year.
The most-watched single episode for the period was the series premiere of Jamie Dornan’s Australian outback mystery drama The Tourist – which has been streamed 6.1 million times, while the opening episodes of The Responder, Peaky Blinders, The Apprentice and This Is Going to Hurt also cracked the top 5.
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In terms of boxsets, Lord Sugar’s return in The Apprentice is the most streamed of the year to date, just ahead of The Tourist and Peaky Blinders. Meanwhile, coverage of The Winter Olympic Games in Beijing was streamed 29 million times.
The impressive figures mean the platform is on track to beat the record year it enjoyed in 2021, when a total of 6.5 billion programmes were streamed throughout the year.
And there’s certainly going to be a lot more to enjoy later in 2022: it was previously announced that more classic boxsets would be made available in the BBC’s centenary year, including the likes of The Young Ones, Blackadder, Mum, 2pointfour Children, and Rev.
Dan McGolpin, director of BBC iPlayer, said of the figures: “BBC iPlayer is more popular than ever in 2022 and the rollout of a more modern look has helped the service to notch-up its best ever quarter across the first three months.
“A formidable and thrilling collection of brand new drama series feature heavily on the most-watched programme lists with The Tourist narrowly ahead of The Responder in first position for top episode and there has been a breath-taking choice available from the Winter Olympics to Green Planet, so it was fantastic to see the long-awaited return of The Apprentice make the top slot for total viewing across a full series.
He added, “Together with the last-ever instalments of Peaky Blinders and Killing Eve landing towards the end of the quarter, two of iPlayer’s most popular programmes of all time, there really is something for everyone whether you’re in the mood for classic boxsets or brand new shows.”
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