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Blue Planet II
The first episode of Blue Planet II was most popular programme, with over 4.7m views. Photograph: Audun Rikardsen
The first episode of Blue Planet II was most popular programme, with over 4.7m views. Photograph: Audun Rikardsen

BBC iPlayer attracts record number of viewers in 2017

This article is more than 6 years old

Figures up 11% on 2016 with an average of 272m streaming requests a month

BBC iPlayer had its most successful year in 2017, with episodes of Blue Planet II, Taboo and Doctor Foster the most popular shows.

Viewers streamed an average of 272m programmes a month, an 11% increase on the previous year.

December was the best month on record, according to the latest figures, with 327m requests to watch programmes – a 17% increase on the same month in 2016. The figures were boosted by the decision to make a range of box sets and classic programmes available over Christmas.

The head of BBC iPlayer, Dan Taylor-Watt, said it had been an extraordinary year. “In 2018, we’ll be looking to build on these successes and continue to make BBC iPlayer a must-visit destination in its own right.”

The most popular show on iPlayer was the first episode of David Attenborough’s series Blue Planet II, which had 4,768,000 streaming requests.

That was followed by the first episode of Taboo,the historical drama in which Tom Hardy played a man taking on the evil East India Company, with 4,464,000 requests. The programme, which is due to return for a second series, was written by Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders, and based on a story written by Hardy and his father.

Third in the new top 10 was the first episode of the second series of Doctor Foster with 3,677,000 requests, followed by the first episode of Three Girls, a BBC One drama starring Maxine Peake based on the true stories of girls who were victims of grooming and sexual abuse in Rochdale.

The top 10 was completed by the second episode of Blue Planet II, The Six Thatchers episode of Sherlock and episodes of Peaky Blinders, Line of Duty, Apple Tree Yard and the second episode of Three Girls.

The BBC is trying to compete with Netflix and Amazon, which have have come to dominate the instant video market in a remarkably short space of time. It now regularly makes box sets such as Peter Kay’s Car Share, Motherland and Feud: Bette and Joan available to view straight after broadcast of the first episode.

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