BBC commissions three originals for iPlayer

The BBC has commissioned three programmes on the forthcoming London Fashion Week to air exclusively on catch-up service BBC iPlayer.

The three shows are Susie Bubble Backstage, featuring fashion blogger Susie Bubble, which will be available exclusively on iPlayer from September 16, Abbey Clancy On Frowers, featuring Strictly Come Dancing champion Abbey Clancy’s guide to the front row at fashion shows, which will be available from September 17, and Daisy Lowe On Trends, available from September 18.

“London Fashion Week is one of the most high-profile fashion events in the world. It’s wonderful to be collaborating with the British Fashion Council to bring this event to BBC iPlayer and celebrate Britain’s reputation for innovation and creativity in this global industry,” said Victoria Jaye, Head of TV Content for BBC iPlayer.

“I’m absolutely thrilled style icons and experts Daisy Lowe, Abbey Clancy and Susie Bubble are our guides to every aspect of the show – we just couldn’t be in better hands.”

Separately, BBC iPlayer requests took a dip in July, with the usual seasonal drop in numbers possibly augmented by the impact of the closing rounds of the World Cup as well as the hot summer weather.

All three of the final matches made it into the iPlayer top 20 most requested programmes for the month, with the Germany v Brazil semi-final generating 1.2 million requests. Live requests accounted for 15% of the total TV requests, on par with July last year.

Overall, there were 231 million iPlayer requests in July, compared with 234 million in July last year. Radio requests fell from 77 million to 66 million, while TV requests were up from 164 million to 165 million. Month-on-month, the July figures compare with 260 million requests, including 190 million TV requests, in June.

The breakdown by requests by device type was little changed month on month, with 47% of TV requests now coming from tablets and smartphones and 22% from other non-computer platforms including TV platform operators, smart TVs and connected devices.

The most requested show in July was the first episode of drama series The Honourable Woman, with 1.292 million requests, with the Brazil v Germany match coming in second with 1.152 million requests. Other top 10 requests included a number of episodes of soap Eastenders, drama Murdered by My Boyfriend and the World Cup final.