Channel 4 reports new record of 6.7 billion streaming minutes in October

UK public service broadcaster, Channel 4 has recorded a milestone of 6.7 billion streaming viewer minutes in October, according to Barb’s industry data.

It marks its largest streaming numbers yet, beating its recent record of five billion minutes of Channel 4 streamed content in April this year.

The reality TV format Married At First Sight UK was the most streamed show on the on-demand platform. The series also became the biggest title across all broadcaster VOD in October for all viewers and for those aged 16-34, with VOD viewing up by more than 95% in October last year. The show earned 1.5 billion viewer minutes, with 45% of the programme’s total viewing in the month coming from VOD alone

Channel 4 said other shows such as Taskmaster, Gogglebox, Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, Partygate, Rick and Morty and The Great British Bake Off helped boost ratings.

Wednesday 25 October attracted the biggest streaming audience of the month, with 268 million viewer minutes. This was also driven by The Great British Bake Off and MAFS UK from across the current series and the archive, according to the broadcaster.

The PSB said Channel 4 streaming’s single biggest VOD episode in the month was episode two of The Great British Bake Off, with a VOD average audience of 2.9 million, from its total audience in the month of 10.1 million, shortly followed by an episode of MAFS UK with a VOD average audience of 1.4 million.

Ian Katz, chief content officer at Channel 4 said: “I’m delighted to see viewers flocking to Channel 4 streaming in record numbers to enjoy brilliant shows – both live and on demand. For some time, Channel 4’s strategy has been to prioritise programmes that drive digital growth and become the UK’s public service streamer. The MAFS juggernaut keeps rolling, but this performance was a real team effort, with new titles, Channel 4 classics and Channel 4 News all contributing to our best-ever streaming performance. And November has got off to a brilliant start with Banged Up: Stars Behind Bars notching up our biggest-ever streaming launch for an unscripted format.”