BBC iPlayer recorded its biggest ever day last Sunday, thanks in part to more than a million people using the service to watch Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s latest statement on the lockdown.
The day saw a total of 22.5 million requests across all programmes, pushing the total number of views since the lockdown was announced on 23 March to 927 million, 61 per cent higher than the same period last year.
Top performing shows include BBC Three’s Normal People, which has had over 28m requests to date, and Killing Eve.
April is now the biggest month BBC iPlayer has ever seen, with 564 million requests, and in the first three months of 2020 the service has seen a record 1.4 billion requests – up 34 per cent on 2019.
Controller of BBC iPlayer Dan McGolpin said: “This has been a unique period in our history and I’m pleased that BBC iPlayer has been able to make such a positive contribution to what so many people are watching.
“It’s delivered the latest news whenever we want it, it’s been there for children and grown-ups who need to learn something new and it’s provided a place to escape, whatever the mood.
“From Bitesize Daily to Race Across the World, from Normal People to Killing Eve, people are finding more to watch on BBC iPlayer than ever before.”