BBC iPlayer saw a record three billion programme requests in 2013

BBC iPlayer saw a record three billion programme requests in 2013 – up 33 per cent on 2012, with 2.2b requests for BBC TV shows and 800m BBC radio requests across all platforms.

Rapid growth in mobile and tablet viewing continued throughout 2013. By the end of year, the BBC saw:

• a 104 per-cent increase year on year in BBC iPlayer requests from tablets
• 20 per cent of total TV and radio iPlayer requests in December from tablets
• downloads of the BBC iPlayer mobile app hitting over 20m, with 942,000 downloads over the festive period alone

2013 ended with a bang for iPlayer with an impressive 271m requests for TV and radio programmes in the month of December – a 25 per cent increase on December 2012.

Even with audiences finding new ways to watch programmes on iPlayer, PCs remained the biggest single platform for requests in 2013, constituting an average of 43 per cent of requests each month. That said, with people away from their desks over the Christmas period, December did see mobile and tablet requests overtake PC requests for the first time in iPlayer’s history.