The fall at the last hurdle by the England football team at Euro 2020 may have been consigned to the past in many minds but its effect on the BBC iPlayer has been indelible and the massive popularity of flagship drama Vigil have added up to a third quarter of 2021 with requests to streams up 20% annually.
In data revealed by the BBC regarding the performance in the months July to September 2021, the live, on-demand and catch-up platform streamed programmes 1.5 billion times, up 20% on the same period last year, and up 49% on the same period in 2019, making it iPlayer’s best Q3 on record.
The opening episode of submarine thriller Vigil was the most-streamed programme – with 6.8 million streams during the quarter and 7.7 million streams to date, while the UEFA Men’s Euro 2020 final between England and Italy was the second most popular programme of the quarter, streamed more than 6.0 million times. Documentary 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room took the third spot, after being streamed almost 2.8 million times.
However, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was the most watched series overall across the quarter, streamed over 90 million times as fans watched Team GB bring home a massive haul of 65 medals, drawing a total of 104 million streams across both iPlayer and BBC Sport. It was closely followed by long-running soap EastEnders, which was streamed a huge 74 million times across the three months.
“These results show the fantastic breadth of content available for all on BBC iPlayer including the country’s biggest sporting moments, enthralling new drama series like Vigil and captivating documentaries like 9/11: Inside the President’s War Roo,” remarked Dan McGolpin, director of BBC iPlayer and channels. “iPlayer has something for everyone and people are using it more than ever, viewing grew 20% year-on-year to our best Q3 on record and we are on track for our best ever year.”
The opening episode of submarine thriller Vigil was the most-streamed programme – with 6.8 million streams during the quarter and 7.7 million streams to date, while the UEFA Men’s Euro 2020 final between England and Italy was the second most popular programme of the quarter, streamed more than 6.0 million times. Documentary 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room took the third spot, after being streamed almost 2.8 million times.
However, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was the most watched series overall across the quarter, streamed over 90 million times as fans watched Team GB bring home a massive haul of 65 medals, drawing a total of 104 million streams across both iPlayer and BBC Sport. It was closely followed by long-running soap EastEnders, which was streamed a huge 74 million times across the three months.
“These results show the fantastic breadth of content available for all on BBC iPlayer including the country’s biggest sporting moments, enthralling new drama series like Vigil and captivating documentaries like 9/11: Inside the President’s War Roo,” remarked Dan McGolpin, director of BBC iPlayer and channels. “iPlayer has something for everyone and people are using it more than ever, viewing grew 20% year-on-year to our best Q3 on record and we are on track for our best ever year.”
