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It's been a record year for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Vision's digital services with more people than ever watching ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Four, C³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ, CBeebies and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer.

And ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two have achieved the strongest viewing in peak (6.00-8.30pm) among terrestrial channels during a period of creative strength which has seen both channels launch new series and deliver public service television across the genres.

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One remains the UK's most watched channel.

Jana Bennett, Director, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Television and online content, says: "Ten years ago we had no ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Four, C³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ or CBeebies. Now these channels are enjoyed in the majority of British homes, delivering award-winning public service content to young audiences and a wealth of high quality arts and culture programming that the free market would simply not provide.

"And with ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ HD and the iPlayer we continue to pioneer the use of new technologies to add even greater value to the licence fee and accessibility to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ programmes.

"The fact that ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two have maintained their positions in a digital world testifies to their editorial strength and the impact of their programming, examples of which include Criminal Justice, Wounded and Small Island on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One and major seasons on Poetry and Modern Beauty on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two as well as brilliant comedies such as The Thick Of It, Psychoville and Miranda."

This year ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three is on target to increase its share of 16-34 year olds to 4.4% (from 4%). Being Human was watched by 930,000 (6.3% of 16-34s) and 645,000 (9.4% of 16-34s) tuned in to Russell Howard's Good News. Forty-five per cent of 16-34 year olds watched the channel's highly acclaimed Adult Season.

Year-on-year growth on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three is 9%, making the channel the most watched amongst 16-34s with 4.8 million watching every week.

Overall, reach among 16-34 year olds is up across the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's channels from 75% to 75.3%.

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Four's share will have grown from 0.95% to 1% and this year the channel recorded its highest viewing figures ever. The Women We Loved season of dramas was particularly successful with 1.4 million watching Gracie! and Enid (1.3m) helping the channel achieve its biggest audience for an evening since going on air.

Ahead of their Christmas schedules transmitting, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two lead terrestrial peak-time viewing – commanding peak time shares of 22.9% and 8.6% respectively.

CBeebies has grown its audience share from 15.4% to 16.4% and remains the most watched pre-school channel. C³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ reaches more 6-12 year olds than any other children's channel (34%).

And, in a year which has seen rapid growth of audiences to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer, November witnessed a record 59.6 million requests to view TV programmes on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer compared with 53.2 million in October.

Notes to Editors

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One is Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival Channel Of The Year

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Four is Freesat Evening Digital Channel Of The Year

C³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is BAFTA Children's Channel Of The Year and Broadcast Children's Channel Of The Year

DP