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Press Releases Over 42 million programmes accessed on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer in first three months

Category: New Media
Date: 09.04.2008
Printable version

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ research released today reveals that ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer has enjoyed significant growth in the first three months since its Christmas Day 2007 marketing launch.

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The total number of requests for downloads and streams of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ programmes in March was 17.2 million, rising from 14Ìýmillion in February, and 11.2 million in January.

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This represents a growth of approximately 25% month-on-month, and contributes to the total of over 42 million programmes accessed on-demand since the Christmas marketing launch.

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Average weekly users of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer reached 1.1 million in March, up from January's average of 750,000 users.

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The average daily number of requests to download or stream programmes via ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer easily broke through the half a million barrier in March, registering 550,000+ daily requests to stream or download, growing from an average of 360,000+ requests in January.

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The first episode of the current series of The Apprentice (³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One) is the most streamed ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ programme on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖÌýiPlayer in its first three months, while Louis Theroux: Behind Bars (³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two), in which the celebrated documentary-maker investigates America's penal system, is the second most streamed programme.

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Other titles appearing in the top 20 include the award-winning sitcom Gavin And Stacey (one of four ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three titles in the top 20), and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One's coverage of the England v France clash in Six Nations Rugby.

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Ashes To Ashes (³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One), EastEnders (³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One) and Torchwood (³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two) all perform strongly, each appearing more than once in the top 20 most-streamed programmes.

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Ashley Highfield, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Director of Future Media and Technology, comments: "³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer continues to show significant growth and we are delighted that audiences are responding to it so positively.

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"Its initial performance proves the case not only for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer, but for all video-on-demand services over the internet, and benefits both our audiences and the industry as a whole.

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"We continue to work closely with the internet service providers with a view to driving the next generation of broadband internet access."

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Jana Bennett, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Director of Vision, comments: "The depth and range of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's programming is genuinely prospering in an on-demand world.

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"The series opener of The Apprentice was the first programme to break through 100,000 requests to view in a single day, and then added 200,000 further requests to view over the week it was available.

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"Audiences are picking up on the big drama, factual and entertainment highlights of the season after the linear broadcast, as well as embracing the best of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three.

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"Within the last few days, the season premiere of the new series of Doctor Who generated over a 150,000 requests in a single day, which bodes well for the future."

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Last week's Penguins April Fool – in which a camera crew filming a colony of penguins were astonished when they took to the Antarctic skies – also helped ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer achieve record-breaking daily user figures: on 1 April, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer received just short of one million requests to stream and download, almost doubling its traffic overnight.

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Additionally, to date there have been in excess of one and a half million views of the penguins on YouTube, and on the day it was YouTube's most viewed video.

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Today, Erik Huggers, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's Group Controller for Future Media and Technology, will also unveil a collaboration with Nintendo which sees ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer launching via the Nintendo Wii, in a keynote speech at the MIPTV-Milia conference in Cannes (see companion press release for details).

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Notes to Editors

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Total and daily stream and download requests by month

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Top 20 programmes 2008 Q1

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Measurement

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The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's iPlayer measurement system uses a sample of users and there are variances with the other page traffic measurement systems. This data is not yet audited. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is working towards meeting industry standards for video and audio streaming and downloading. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is constantly working on its measurement systems and reserves the right to augment or change its methodology as the platform develops.

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