BBC iPlayer enjoys record festive season
James R | On 14, Jan 2022
BBC iPlayer recorded its best festive day ever at the start of this year, with 22m streams on Sunday 2nd January.
The streaming service’s popularity was boosted by the arrival of the box set of The Tourist, starring Jamie Dornan. The series is currently the third most successful drama launch of all time on iPlayer – having been streamed over 18m million times to date. In addition, BBC All-Screens+7 data (which reports on all viewing across linear BBC TV and BBC iPlayer during the first 7 days of availability) shows that, from 20th December to 4 January, Happy New Year Live! (with an average audience of over 10.5m), the first episode of The Tourist (8.9m) and The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast (8.3m) were the most watched programmes on BBC TV and BBC iPlayer combined.
Christmas specials of Death in Paradise (8m), Call The Midwife (7.9m) and Strictly Come Dancing (7.4m) also performed well – along with new dramas A Very British Scandal (7.1m) and Around the World in 80 days (6m), which were watched live and on-demand by audiences within their first seven days of availability.
Figures for the festive period also show that viewers were gripped by new dramas on iPlayer, with the first instalment of A Very British Scandal topping the list of most streamed episodes across the festive period (21st December – 3rd January) with 2.3m streams. The finale of psychological thriller The Girl Before (1.6m) also proved hugely popular.
Drama in the Square was a hit throughout Christmas and New Year, with EastEnders streamed 15.9m times between 21st December and 3rd January.
Charlotte Moore, BBC’s Chief Content Officer says: “2022 on the BBC has started with a bang with record viewing across Christmas and New Year on BBC iPlayer. Millions of people chose to watch our unrivalled range of box-sets and Christmas specials live on our channels, or binge on-demand across the festive season – paving the way for the BBC’s centenary, a landmark year that will look forward and celebrate British creativity across the whole of the UK.”
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