BBC iPlayer saw its best year ever in 2022 with the number of streams passing 7 billion for the first time ever.
The streaming service, which has recently been given permission to increase the number of classic shows available, also ended the year with both the best month and best quarter it’s ever seen, with 700 million streams for December and 2 billion streams between October – December.
The BBC’s World Cup coverage was streamed 92 million times while the Commonwealth Games clocked up 53m streams and Wimbledon 43m streams. Top performing boxsets include Doctor Who (56m streams), Peaky Blinders (55m streams), and Death in Paradise (46m streams). Meanwhile EastEnders enjoyed its best year ever on iPlayer, having been streamed 366 million times.
Director of BBC iPlayer Dan McGolpin said: “2022 saw huge growth for BBC iPlayer, 7 billion streams is double where we were a few years ago.
“Alongside the big events like the World Cup and the outstanding coverage of the state funeral for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, people arrived in their millions to watch an array of big drama boxsets including the final series of Peaky Blinders and a large number of brand new series such as The Tourist, The Responder and SAS Rogue Heroes.
“Over the last year we’ve added more choice than ever before in every genre, with plenty more in store for 2023.”