iPlayer TV requests up 18% in July

TV requests to the BBC’s iPlayer online service were up 18% year-on-year, and increased slightly month-on-month in July, even though TV viewing typically dips in the summer.

According to BBC stats, 196 million TV programming requests were logged in July, compared to 165 million a year earlier and up 1% from 194 million in June – “despite the summer weather which often affects TV viewing.”

Across TV and radio programming, the number of requests for July came to 250 million, up 2% on June with requests from mobiles and tablets increasing by 9% and 7% respectively.

“EastEnders was the most-requested programme in July, and the final episode of Top Gear continued to attract viewing, having been originally broadcast on 28th June,” according to the latest iPlayer monthly performance pack.

The BBC said that, consistent with previous months, the profile of BBC iPlayer users has evened out in terms of male/female ratio, but remains “strongly under-55 in terms of age”.

The iPlayer is used for TV at roughly the same time of day as linear TV viewing, although there is proportionally more daytime and late-peak use, according to the BBC.

The stats come in the same week that the BBC said it had received more than 1 million programme downloads for the BBC iPlayer Radio app, less than a month after added offline listening options.

The BBC launched the free update to the iPlayer Radio app last month, letting users download radio programmes in full to their smartphone or tablet, listen offline and keep shows for up to 30 days.