UKTV’s direct to consumer service saw an increase in both views and registered users during 2020.
UKTV Play’s views grew by 42 per cent in 2020 with registered users rising by 45 per cent to 4.45million.
The broadcaster cites the likes of Red Dwarf: The Promised Land, The Bill: The Early Years, Meet The Richardsons, EastEnders and Hypothetical as helping it grow its audience.
Across its seven linear channels, UKTV grew its viewing share by 3.2 per cent during 2020 to 4.63 per cent, reaching over 18 million viewers a week.
UKTV’s CEO, Marcus Arthur, said: “At the start of last year no one could have predicted what was in store. The global pandemic turned life upside down and businesses were forced to quickly adapt and pivot to new ways of working. I’m incredibly proud of how the team came together during our first full year under BBC Studios ownership and embraced UKTV’s unique challenger spirit to drive the business forward.
“While the pandemic temporarily paused production, UKTV was uniquely positioned with an incredibly rich archive of content which has been a much-appreciated source of joy for our viewers. This, alongside our strong pipeline of Originals, helped to deliver growth across all metrics in 2020.
Arthur added, “We will continue to build on this momentum throughout 2021 by increasing investment in original programming, strengthening our partnerships with the production community, and by growing our video on demand service, UKTV Play.”
