BBC iPlayer achieved its best-ever viewing figures during Christmas week, as viewers spent more time using the service and streamed more programmes than ever before.
Christmas week (Monday 25th December to Sunday 31st December) saw the platform receive 69.2 million programme requests, with viewers watching 25.6 million hours. That was considerably up on 25th-31st December last year, when there were 58.6m requests and 22.5m hours watched.
The corporation says the record figures were helped by its decision to release box-sets and classic programmes over the Christmas period. It says the extra content has so far been requested more than 29.4 million times – an average of 1.7 million times a day.
Charlotte Moore, BBC director of content, said: “It’s hugely exciting to see such unprecedented numbers come to BBC iPlayer this Christmas. The public have responded in their millions to the amazing range of content we’ve offered – and for those who are loving our special Christmas box set collection there are still a few days to go.”
The most popular show in iPlayer over the festive period was the Christmas Day edition of EastEnders, generating 1.6 million requests.
It was followed by the soap’s Boxing Day episode and Peaky Blinders.
