BBC iPlayer recorded its best-ever year in 2017 as total requests for programmes grew to 3.3 billion – an 11 per cent increase on 2016.
Viewers streamed on average 272 million programmes per month.
The most popular show of 2017 was the first episode of Blue Planet II, with 4.8 million requests. It was followed by the opening episodes of Tom Hardy period drama Taboo and Doctor Foster series two.
December turned out to be the service’s best month on record, with 327 million requests, a 17 per cent increase on the same month in 2016. Requests from connected TV devices increased by 34 per cent compared to the same period in 2016, while mobile requests increased by 19 per cent and computers by three per cent.
Dan McGolpin, controller of programming and daytime for the BBC, said: “Viewers are using BBC iPlayer more and more and in 2017 we made that experience better than ever. Over the festive period we provided unexpected treats, bringing back some well-loved boxsets for people to watch in their own time. BBC iPlayer now offers a broader range of relevant choices personalised for all and it will get better still over the coming year.”
