BBC iPlayer achieves its strongest ever quarter

New dramas including “The Tourist,” “The Responder,” “This is Going to Hurt,” “The Rules of the Game,” and “Chloe” helped BBC iPlayer record its best quarter ever. In detail, January to March saw iPlayer’s strongest start to a year ever - with viewers streaming programmes a record 1.83 billion times in the first three months. These figures are in addition to the millions of viewers who enjoyed these gripping dramas on broadcast TV.

Other big hits included returning favourites “The Apprentice,” “Peaky Blinders,” and “Killing Eve,” as well as strong performances for The Winter Olympics and new natural history series “The Green Planet.”

BBC iPlayer now has a new look and feel, making it easier to use and navigate to find the content viewers love and enjoy, on TV, mobile, or web. Earlier this month, it was announced that more boxsets than ever would be made available to watch on iPlayer in the BBC’s centenary year.

“BBC iPlayer is more popular than ever in 2022, and the rollout of a more modern look has helped the service to notch-up its best ever quarter across the first three months. A formidable and thrilling collection of brand new drama series feature heavily on the most-watched programme lists with ‘The Tourist’ narrowly ahead of ‘The Responder’ in first position for top episode, and there has been a breath-taking choice available from the Winter Olympics to ‘Green Planet,’ so it was fantastic to see the long-awaited return of ‘The Apprentice’ make the top slot for total viewing across a full series. Together with the last-ever instalments of ‘Peaky Blinders’ and ‘Killing Eve’ landing towards the end of the quarter, two of iPlayer’s most popular programmes of all time, there really is something for everyone whether you’re in the mood for classic boxsets or brand new shows,”  said Dan McGolpin, Director of BBC iPlayer.