It’s a Sin breaks streaming records on All 4
David Farnor | On 03, Feb 2021
It’s a Sin has broken streaming records on All 4, taking Channel 4’s streaming service to its biggest ever month.
From Russell T Davies (Queer As Folk, A Very English Scandal, Years and Years, Doctor Who), the series follows the story of the 1980s, the story of AIDS, and charts the joy and heartbreak of a group of friends across a decade in which everything changed.
Launching on Friday 22nd January the entire series was made immediately available to stream on All 4, contributing towards its biggest ever week and month of viewing. January saw almost double the number of views compared to the same month last year thanks to the huge success of the five-part drama.
The series has already had 6.5 million views on All 4, making it the streaming services’ biggest ever instant box set, its third biggest series to date and its most binged new series ever. Episode 1 is now All 4’s most popular drama launch on record.
It has also proven a hit on linear TV, with the launch episode pulling in an average audience of 3.3 million viewers and 14.5 per cent share of the viewing audience after seven days’ consolidation (taking account of time-shifted viewing on a TV over that period). Its 18.4 per cent share of 16-34-year-old viewers makes it Channel 4’s best drama launch for young viewers in three years (since Kiri in January 2018).
“A heartbreakingly brilliant piece of television,” we wrote in our review.
Ian Katz, Chief Content Officer, said: “The extraordinary performance of It’s a Sin is a reminder that powerful drama with something important to say about the world can also be commercially successful. It has also demonstrated how our strategy of box-setting shows on All 4 can bring a greater combined linear and digital audience to a show than a traditional release pattern. It’s been a key driver of All 4 viewing in a month that has seen our digital viewing on our own platforms up by more than 90 per cent compared to the same period last year.”
Other top titles in January that viewers couldn’t get enough of include Married at First Sight Australia, Ackley Bridge, Taskmaster, Gogglebox, 24 Hours in Police Custody (also attracting its biggest ever linear audiences on Channel 4), Grand Designs and Junior Bake Off, as well as Back, First Dates and exclusive box sets including One Tree Hill and The West Wing.
January’s success follows a record breaking 2020 for All 4, with digital views up 31 per cent year-on-year.