The BBC has said that Sky, Virgin, games consoles and Smart TVs were the most popular way for viewers to access its iPlayer during the festive period.
Watching the iPlayer through “connected TVs” – via platforms such as Sky, Virgin, Xbox, PlayStation and smart TVs – beat mobiles and tablets as the most popular way to view catchup shows over Christmas.
Connected TVs accounted for 38% of all iPlayer viewing over the festive fortnight from Christmas week through to New Year, with viewing up a third compared with the same period in 2014.
Tablets accounted for 24%, computers 22% and mobiles 17%.
“Christmas was an extremely popular time for watching programmes on BBC iPlayer – and not just people viewing on computers, tablets and phones,” said Dan Taylor-Watt, the head of the service. “We’ve seen a real surge in people watching the best of the BBC through connected TVs. More and more people were watching BBC iPlayer on the biggest screen in the house.”
The BBC also revealed the most-requested episodes of its 2015 festive period programmes on the iPlayer.
EastEnders took five of the top six spots, with the Christmas Day episode the most popular of the year, only split by The Apprentice final, which took second place.
The top Christmas special was Mrs Brown’s Boys, which managed seventh spot.
Top 10 most-requested episodes on the iPlayer over the 2015 festive period
- EastEnders (25/12/2015) - 1,459,300
- The Apprentice Series 11 The Final - 1,306,500
- EastEnders (26/12/2015) - 1,275,400
- EastEnders (29/12/2015) - 1,053,900
- EastEnders (24/12/2015) - 1,051,300
- EastEnders (28/12/2015) - 975,200
- Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas Specials 2015 - 969,200
- Luther Series 4 Episode 2 - 934,500
- And Then There Were None Episode 1 - 886,500
- EastEnders (21/12/2015) - 871,800
