The BBC says that its iPlayer streaming platform achieved an all-time record number of viewers over Christmas week.
Programmes were streamed 177m times between 25-31 Dec 2023, up 7% on the same period the year before – and beating the previous record set in the week of 2-8 Jan 2023 when 173m programmes were streamed.
More broadly, throughout the ‘festive fortnight’ of 19 Dec 2023 - 1 Jan 2024, EastEnders’ Christmas Day episode topped the chart on iPlayer with 2.96m streams.
It was followed by the climax to the second series of Vigil (2.19m), Rick Astley bringing in the New Year (2.02m) and Call the Midwife (2.01m) and Doctor Who’s Christmas specials (1.79m).
EastEnders was also the top title on iPlayer with 26.28m streams for the ‘festive fortnight’. Vigil (10.96m), Doctor Who (10.01m), Mrs Brown’s Boys (4.64m), Death in Paradise (3.98m), Gavin & Stacey (3.96m), Call the Midwife (3.85m) and Ghosts (3.82m) also made the top ten – along with children’s favourites Bluey (10.42m) and Hey Duggee (10.12m).
The BBC also revealed that Christmas week saw 16.5m BBC accounts signed in to watch programmes on BBC iPlayer - up 5% on the same time the year before. Nearly 5m (4.9m) of those accounts were from people under 35.
Dan McGolpin, Director of BBC iPlayer and Channels, said: “It’s wonderful to see that viewers came to BBC iPlayer in record numbers over the festive period. Nowhere else would they have found the same range of high-quality British programming to keep them gripped, make them laugh or to provide companionship and news at that special time. And with a whole host of compelling drama, comedy, factual programming, entertainment and sport landing on iPlayer in 2024, viewers can look forward to a great year ahead.”
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