14 years after launching, the BBC’s streaming service is set to break new streaming records thanks to the popularity of dramas including Line of Duty, Vigil, Time, plus the Euro 2020 final between Italy and England.
The first episode of the 2021 series of Line Of Duty became the BBC iPlayer’s biggest episode of the year so far, with the episode streamed 9.2 million times The Line Of Duty boxset has been streamed 137 million times. In addition, consolidated figures show a huge 14.6m people watched the first episode of series six in its first 28 days – with the series peaking at 15.9m viewers for the final episode.
By the end of November, iPlayer had reached 5.9 billion stream requests. Bosses at the BBC now expect Christmas viewing to help break the 6 billion mark. Year-on-year, iPlayer streams by the end of November were up 586 million.
The BBC iPlayer officially launched in December 2007 after a period of beta testing. Since then, the streaming service has grown rapidly and is now available on almost every streaming device sold in the UK.
Special events including The Olympics and Euro 2020 also drove viewers to the service. There were over 90 million stream requests for the BBC’s Olympic coverage. Meanwhile, Euro 2020-related coverage attracted 68.2 million requests.
Dan McGolpin, director of BBC iPlayer and channels, says:
“It’s been an incredible year for BBC iPlayer with a unique mix of programmes driving more viewing than ever before. Line Of Duty tops the tables and it’s fantastic to see so many other brand-new drama series also featuring highly alongside those memorable sporting moments from last summer and some of the best documentary series of the year.
BBC iPlayer’s top episodes of the year so far
Individual episodes or football matches.
| Rank | Programme | Episode | Streams |
| 1 | Line Of Duty | Series 6 – episode 1 | 9.2m |
| 2 | Vigil | Episode 1 | 8.0m |
| 3 | Time | Episode 1 | 7.3m |
| 4 | The Serpent | Episode 1 | 6.3m |
| 5 | Euro 2020 | Final: Italy v England | 6.0m |
| 6 | Bloodlands | Episode 1 | 5.1m |
| 7 | The Pact | Episode 1 | 4.7m |
| 8 | Traces | Episode 1 | 4.4m |
| 9 | A Perfect Planet | Volcano | 3.7m |
| 10 | Forensics: The Real CSI | Series 2 – An Admission of Murder | 3.6m |
BBC iPlayer’s top titles of the year so far
This includes boxset figures or total figures for a particular event.
| Rank | Programme | Streams |
| 1 | Line Of Duty | 137.1m |
| 2 | Olympics | 90.2m |
| 3 | Pretty Little Liars | 79.9m |
| 4 | Euro 2020 | 68.2m |
| 5 | Silent Witness | 62.3m |
| 6 | Waterloo Road | 45.3m |
| 7 | Doctor Who | 41.8m |
| 8 | Death In Paradise | 39.7m |
| 9 | The Serpent | 35.4m |
| 10 | RuPaul’s Drag Race UK | 33.3m |