Episodes of EastEnders and Vigil plus Rick Astley Rocks New Year’ Eve drove a record number of viewers to the BBC iPlayer between the 25th and 31st December.
- 16.5 million accounts were signed in to watch programmes on the iPlayer, but only 4.9 million were from under 35s.
Christmas saw programmes streamed a record-breaking 177m times, up +7% on the same time the year before – and beating the previous record (2nd-8th Jan 23) when 173m programmes were streamed in a week.
Top 20 BBC iPlayer shows
The top 20 episodes per series throughout the ‘festive fortnight’ (which the BBC defines as 19th December – 1st January), on BBC iPlayer were:
| Rank | Episode name | Streams (millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | EastEnders – 25/12/2023 | 2.96 |
| 2 | Vigil – Series 2 – Episode 6 | 2.19 |
| 3 | Rick Astley Rocks New Year’s Eve – Part 1 | 2.02 |
| 4 | Call the Midwife – Christmas Special 2023 | 2.01 |
| 5 | Doctor Who 2023 Christmas Special: The Church on Ruby Road | 1.79 |
| 6 | Murder Is Easy – Series 1 – Episode 1 | 1.52 |
| 7 | Death in Paradise – Christmas Special 2023 | 1.45 |
| 8 | Match of the Day – 23/12/2023 | 1.36 |
| 9 | Mrs Brown’s Boys – 2023 Specials – Mammy’s Mare | 1.34 |
| 10 | Strictly Come Dancing – Series 21 – Christmas Special | 1.16 |
| 11 | Tabby McTat – The Animated Adventure | 1.15 |
| 12 | Beyond Paradise – Christmas Special | 1.12 |
| 13 | Ghosts – A Christmas Gift | 1.11 |
| 14 | New Year’s Eve Fireworks – 2023/2024 | 1.01 |
| 15 | The King – 2023 | 0.88 |
| 16 | Charles III: The Coronation Year | 0.87 |
| 17 | Toy Story 4 | 0.76 |
| 18 | Not Going Out – Wilfred | 0.76 |
| 19 | Jools’ Annual Hootenanny – 2023/24 | 0.74 |
| 20 | The Graham Norton Show – Series 31 – New Year’s Eve Show | 0.73 |
With the BBC’s definition of festive fortnight also including 1st January 2024, previous streaming hit The Tourist, which was dropped at 6am in the morning as box set is notably absent, indicating many viewers may have waited until its traditional BBC One debut at 9pm.
Following ITV’s declaration of winning the New Year’s ratings battle earlier this week, the BBC said on New Year’s Day, the iPlayer had its best day (during a ‘festive fortnight’) ever – with programmes streamed 29.8m times on iPlayer.
iPlayer grows younger viewers, but still a low proportion of users
In total, during Christmas week, 16.5 million BBC accounts were signed into the watch iPlayer programmes, up 5% on the same time the year before.
Just 4.9 million of those accounts were from people under 35. That’s a rise of 7% year-on-year. But the figure underscores how the BBC has struggled to appeal to audiences in age groups where streaming beats linear TV viewing, and where other streaming services might expect their largest audience shares.
Corporate comment
Dan McGolpin, Director of BBC iPlayer and Channels says:
“It’s wonderful to see that viewers came to BBC iPlayer in record numbers over the festive period. Nowhere else would they have found the same range of high-quality British programming to keep them gripped, make them laugh or to provide companionship and news at that special time. And with a whole host of compelling drama, comedy, factual programming, entertainment and sport landing on iPlayer in 2024, viewers can look forward to a great year ahead.”
Marc Thornham