1. 1
Online Monthly press pack
January 2010
Dan Maynard, Publicist, BBC iPlayer
BBC Marketing, Communications & Audiences
T. 020 8008 5294 | M. 07912 583654 | E.Daniel.Maynard@bbc.co.uk
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes
2. 2
Monthly summary – January 2010
• The month of January again saw records broken for TV and radio requests on BBC iPlayer.
In total there were 120 million requests across all platforms (both online platforms
and devices and BBC iPlayer on Virgin Media TV combined).
• The week of 410 January set a new record for total requests (23.8m) and radio requests
(8m), boosted by catchup viewing following the Christmas holiday, such as Doctor Who
and Gavin and Stacey , and audio cricket coverage. On 11th January the new Chris Evans
Breakfast show also attracted high request numbers.
• Requests from PC/Macs continued to dominate in January for both TV and radio content,
however requests for TV programmes via BBC iPlayer on Nintendo Wii increased +1 point
to 4% of the total number, and PlayStation®3 requests again delivered a further 8%.
Consistent with previous months:
• The profile of BBC iPlayer users is fairly stable at around 60% male / 40% female, and
remains strongly under55 in terms of age, which is younger than the typical TV viewer or
radio listener’s profile.
• Ondemand makes up the great majority of TV programme requests (in January only 8%
of requests were for live simulcast streams), however twothirds of requests for radio
streams are for live programmes, as opposed to ondemand catchup listening.
• BBC iPlayer is used for TV at roughly the same time of day as linear TV viewing, although
there is proportionally more daytime and latepeak use. For radio, BBC iPlayer is used
far more in daytime than traditional radio listening, which peaks at breakfasttime.
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes
3. 3
Index
Page
Overview for BBC iPlayer across all platforms 4
Monthly requests 6
Average daily requests 7
Average daily users 8
Weekly requests 9
Weekly users 10
Top TV programmes 11
Top radio programmes 12
Platform type 13
Live vs ondemand 14
Use of iPlayer for TV by time of day 15
Use of iPlayer for radio by time of day 16
Profile of iPlayer users 17
Glossary 18
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes
4. 4
Total Monthly BBC iPlayer Requests across all platforms
120.3
114.8
106.7
97.4
87.3 84.6 87.3
78.3 80.6
75.9 76.1
68.5
61.5
Millions of requests
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul09 Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan
09 09 09 09 09 09 09 09 09 09 09 10
Virgin Media data arrives later than online stats, therefore the remainder of this report is only
for the online BBC iPlayer, available via computer / mobile / games consoles.
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes
5. 5
Notes on figures in this report
These notes apply to pages 5 to 17 in this pack and should be included as footnotes as
relevant when quoting any of these figures. A glossary is on page 18.
• This data is collected via a BBC internal data warehouse (BBC iStats). The methodology adheres to
industry standard guidelines as defined by JICWEBs and ABCe, with the exception that the BBC
data is based on a 25% sample of users and not 100%. The BBC are working towards 100%
sample over the coming months
• In 2009 the BBC refined its methodology for measuring AV requests, so figures for 2007/8 are not
comparable. There may be further changes in the data in future releases as we continue to refine
the methodology
• Please quote the source of these figures as “BBC iStats”
• Unless specified otherwise, figures include requests for both ondemand catchup (streams and
downloads), or views of live simulcasts
• We cannot report download playback due to data privacy restrictions
• All data is for the UK only and excludes listening outside the UK
• This data includes requests via BBC iPlayer on any BBC website – whether on a programme,
channel or station page, via the popout console, or on the BBC iPlayer website itself
• None of this data following is for BBC iPlayer on Virgin Media’s TV service all is for the
online BBC iPlayer, available via computer / mobile / games consoles
• This report does not include requests for webonly content (such as online news or sport
coverage) – only requests for fulllength programmes which have been transmitted on
a TV channel or radio station
• The data for the month of January 2009 excludes the date 1st – 4th January, since changes were
made to the measurement system on 5th January 09
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes
6. 6
Monthly BBC iPlayer Online Requests
During January 2010, BBC iPlayer received a total of 100m requests, the best month
since launch again – driven by a record 68.2m requests for TV programmes, and also a
record number of requests for radio programmes at 32.3m.
120
100.5
100 93.4
89.0
Monthly Requests (millions)
79.3 32.3
80 28.2
70.6 68.8 71.0
29.3
63.5 64.5
60.8 61.3 26.1
60 54.4
25.7 25.5 26.5
46.8 25.4
26.8 23.6 24.7
18.4
40 16.1
65.2 68.2
59.6
53.2
20
44.9 43.3 44.5
36.0 36.7 37.1 39.1 36.5
30.8
0
Jan09 Feb09 Mar09 Apr09 May09 Jun09 Jul09 Aug09 Sep09 Oct09 Nov09 Dec09 Jan10
TV Requests Radio Requests
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes
7. 7
Average Daily BBC iPlayer Requests
January 2010 saw BBC iPlayer attract an average of 3.2 million requests for
programmes each day, the highest figure to date – a record 2.2m daily for TV
programmes and an average of 1m for radio programmes.
3.5
3.20
3.00
3
2.90
2.60
Average Daily Requests (millions)
1.00
2.5 2.37 1.00 0.90
2.28 2.22
2.05 2.02 2.08 2.04
1.94 0.80
2
1.73 0.83 0.88
0.82
0.66 0.86 0.79 0.82 0.82
1.5
0.60
2.10 2.20
1 2.00
1.70
1.45 1.40 1.48
1.29 1.18 1.24 1.26 1.22
0.5
1.14
0
Jan09 Feb09 Mar09 Apr09 May09 Jun09 Jul09 Aug09 Sep09 Oct09 Nov09 Dec09 Jan10
TV Requests Radio Requests
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes
8. 8
Average Daily BBC iPlayer Users
In January 2010, BBC iPlayer attracted an average of 1.3 million users each day – 0.9m
requesting TV content only, 0.3m requesting radio content only, and 50k requesting both
types of media.
1.4
1.29
1.21 1.22
1.2
1.05 0.32
0.3 0.29
0.96
1.0
0.90
User agents (millions)
0.87 0.05
0.84 0.27 0.05
0.81 0.80 0.80 0.80 0.05
0.77 0.28
0.8
0.26 0.04
0.27
0.27 0.24 0.24 0.25
0.26 0.04
0.26 0.04
0.6 0.03
0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03
0.03
0.03
0.86 0.88 0.91
0.4
0.74
0.60 0.64
0.54 0.53 0.54 0.53 0.57
0.48 0.51
0.2
0.0
Apr09
Jul09
Mar09
Nov09
Jun09
Aug09
Jan09
Feb09
Sep09
May09
Dec09
Jan10
Oct09
Users of TV Only Users of Both Users of Radio Only
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes
9. 9
Weekly BBC iPlayer Requests
The first week of January topped the last week of December with the highest weekly
requests on record, overall (23.8m) and for Radio programme requests (8m).
BBC iPlayer weekly requests latest 6 months
25 23.8
Christmas holiday
22.7 22.5
21.9 21.6 21.9 22.0 22.3
21.5
20.4 20.7
19.8 19.9
19.3
20 18.7 5.0 8.0
7.0 6.8 7.9 7.4
17.0 6.8 7.7 7.1
16.7 16.6 16.7 16.7 6.8
16.1 6.4
Weekly Requests (m)
15.9 15.8 *
15.6 6.1
15.3 15.5 6.7
6.4 4.9
15
5.8 5.7 5.8
6.5 6.0
5.7 6.3 6.1 6.4 5.3
5.6
10
17.3
15.8
15.0 14.8 15.1 14.4 14.8 14.4 15.1
13.7 14.0 13.2 14.0 13.9
12.9
10.9 10.7 11.0 11.2 10.2
5 9.7 9.8 9.7 9.7 9.7 10.1
0
02 Nov
09 Nov
16 Nov
23 Nov
30 Nov
04 Jan
11 Jan
18 Jan
25 Jan
03 Aug
10 Aug
17 Aug
24 Aug
31 Aug
07 Sep
14 Sep
21 Sep
28 Sep
07 Dec
14 Dec
21 Dec
28 Dec
05 Oct
12 Oct
19 Oct
26 Oct
* Technical problems TV Requests Radio Requests
The data measurement systems failed over 10:0020:00 on Sunday October 18th, so
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes while users successfully received programmes, we did not record their usage of iPlayer.
10. 10
Weekly BBC iPlayer Users
Total weekly user numbers in January 2010 peaked in w/c 11th January at 5.9m, the
highest figure to date.
BBC iPlayer weekly requests latest 6 months 5.9
6 5.8
5.7
5.4 5.4
5.3
5.2 5.2 5.2 5.2
5.0 5.0
1.3 4.9 1.4
5 4.8 4.8
0.9 1.5
1.2 1.5 1.2
1.2 1.1
1.1
4.2 4.2 4.2 4.2 4.2 1.1 1.1
* 1.3 0.9
4.0 0.4
1.1 0.4
3.9 3.9 0.5
4 3.8
3.7 3.7 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.4
User agents (m)
0.4 0.4 0.5
0.4 0.4 0.4
1.1 1.1 1.1 1.0
1.3 0.4 0.4
1.2 1.0
1.3 1.2
1.0 1.0
3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3
0.3 0.3
0.3
0.3 0.3 0.3
0.3
2 4.1 4.1
3.9
3.7 3.6 3.6 3.7 3.7 3.7
3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5
3.3 3.3
2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8
2.5 2.6 2.6
2.4 2.4 2.3 2.4
1
0
02 Nov
09 Nov
16 Nov
23 Nov
30 Nov
04 Jan
11 Jan
18 Jan
25 Jan
03 Aug
10 Aug
17 Aug
24 Aug
31 Aug
07 Sep
14 Sep
21 Sep
28 Sep
07 Dec
14 Dec
21 Dec
28 Dec
05 Oct
12 Oct
19 Oct
26 Oct
Users of TV Only Users of Both Users of Radio Only * Technical problems
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes
11. 11
BBC iPlayer Top 20 TV Episodes January 2010
Christmas / New Year specials such as Doctor Who and Gavin and Stacey attracted significant
catchup requests in early January.
BBC iPLAYER TOP 20 TV EPS – ALL BBC iPLAYER TOP 20 TV EPS – MOSTREQUESTED EP PER SER
Total requests per Ep Total requests per Ep
1 Top Gear Series 14 Ep 7 1,135,000 1 Top Gear Series 14 Ep 7 1,135,000
2 Doctor Who: The End of Time Part 2 831,000 2 Doctor Who: The End of Time Part 2 831,000
3 Gavin and Stacey Series 3 Ep 6 700,000 3 Gavin and Stacey Series 3 Ep 6 700,000
4 Mock the Week Series 8 Ep 1 658,000 4 Mock the Week Series 8 Ep 1 658,000
5 Tracy Beaker Returns Episode 1 565,000 5 Tracy Beaker Returns: Ep 1 565,000
6 Top Gear Series 14 Bolivia Special Ep 6 525,000 6 Hustle Series 6 Ep 1 523,000
7 Hustle Series 6 Ep 1 523,000 7 EastEnders 15/01/10 498,000
8 EastEnders 15/01/10 498,000 8 Live at the Apollo Series 5 Ep 6 479,000
9 Live at the Apollo Series 5 Ep 6 479,000 9 The Incredibles 25/12/09 417,000
10 EastEnders 05/01/10 463,000 10 QI Series 7 Genius Ep 6 359,000
11 EastEnders 01/01/10 455,000 11 Sun, Sex and Holiday Madness 07/01/10 355,000
12 Hustle Series 6 Ep 2 429,000 12 Rock and Chips 24/01/10 314,000
13 EastEnders 22/01/10 420,000 13 Coming of Age Series 2 Ep 1 289,000
14 The Incredibles 25/12/09 417,000 14 Heroes Series 4 Ep 1 278,000
15 Being Human Series 2 Ep 1 415,000 15 Newswipe Series 2 Ep 1 264,000
16 Hustle Series 6 Ep 3 408,000 16 Friday Night with Jonathan Ross Series 18 Ep 2 241,000
17 EastEnders 08/01/10 403,000 17 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 241,000
18 EastEnders 19/01/10 401,000 18 Survivors Series 2 Ep 1 240,000
19 EastEnders 14/01/10 393,000 19 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 229,000
20 EastEnders 07/01/10 388,000 20 How Earth Made Us Ep 1 222,000
Note: excludes episodes which had been available for fewer than seven days at the end of the month.
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes
12. 12
BBC iPlayer Top 20 Radio Episodes January 2010
Cricket coverage featured heavily in January’s top radio list, while the new Radio 2 Chris
Evans Breakfast show also attracted significant requests.
BBC iPLAYER TOP 20 RADIO EPISODES
BBC iPLAYER TOP 20 RADIO EPISODES – ALL – MOSTREQUESTED EPISODE PER SERIES
Total requests per episode Total requests per episode
1 Test Match Special 07/01/10 238,000 1 Test Match Special 07/01/10 238,000
2 Chris Evans Breakfast 11/01/10 120,000 2 Chris Evans Breakfast 11/01/10 120,000
3 Test Match Special 14/01/10 118,000 3 The News Quiz Series 70 Episode 1 78,000
4 Test Match Special 04/01/10 118,000 4 5 Live Prem 0910 B’ham City v Man Utd 66,000
5 Test Match Special 04/01/10 117,000 5 Greg James 18/01/10 66,000
6 Test Match Special 06/01/10 116,000 6 Steve Wright in the Afternoon 18/01/10 62,000
7 Test Match Special 05/01/10 109,000 7 BBC Radio 1's Chart Show 24/01/10 60,000
8 The News Quiz Series 70 Episode 1 78,000 8 The Chris Moyles Show 20/01/10 60,000
9 Test Match Special 15/01/10 78,000 9 Just a Minute Series 56 Episode 1 57,000
10 The News Quiz Series 70 Episode 2 76,000 10 Ken Bruce 11/01/10 52,000
11 The News Quiz Series 70 Episode 3 75,000 11 Fearne Cotton Lost Prophets Live Lounge 51,000
12 5 Live Prem 0910 B’ham City v Man Utd 66,000 12 Football 20/01/10 51,000
13 Greg James 18/01/10 66,000 13 History of the World In 100 Objects Ep 1 47,000
14 Test Match Special 03/01/10 64,000 14 The Now Show Series 29 Episode 6 44,000
15 Steve Wright in the Afternoon 18/01/10 62,000 15 Jeremy Vine 11/01/10 42,000
16 BBC Radio 1's Chart Show 24/01/10 60,000 16 606 09/01/10 41,000
17 The Chris Moyles Show 20/01/10 60,000 17 Annie Mac 22/01/10 39,000
18 BBC Radio 1's Chart Show 17/01/10 59,000 18 Scott Mills 15/01/10 36,000
19 Test Match Special 16/01/10 59,000 19 The Archers 11/01/10 35,000
20 The Chris Moyles Show 22/01/10 58,000 20 The Unbelievable Truth New Year Special 35,000
Note: excludes episodes which had been available for fewer than seven days at the end of the month.
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes
13. 13
Requests by platform type – January 2010
Requests from PC/Macs continued to dominate in January, however requests for TV
programmes via the Nintendo Wii increased to 4%, and PlayStation®3 requests remained
stable at 8%.
TV Requests Radio requests
(all streams)
Streams vs Device type
downloads 4%
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
9 7 6 3 3 1
9 7 9
10 3 6
3 3
9 8
9 8
10 8
9 8
11 11 11 11 12 12 12
Wii
Other mobile Wii
PS3 Other mobile
iPhone/iTouch PS3
97
97
97
97
96
96
96
87 87
80
81
86 86 85 85 86
78
79
78
76
iPhone/iTouch
74
Mac
PC Mac
PC
Jul 09
Nov 09
Jul 09
Nov 09
Aug 09
Sep 09
Dec 09
Jan 10
Aug 09
Sep 09
Dec 09
Jan 10
Oct 09
Oct 09
Nov 09
Jul 09
Aug 09
Sep 09
Dec 09
Jan 10
Oct 09
Download requests
Stream requests
NB: There are currently issues with measuring iPhone iPlayer data
Audio podcast requests are not included here since they are not available until after the publishing date for this pack.
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes
14. 14
Requests by ondemand catchup vs live simulcast – Jan 2010
Ondemand (catchup) requests for programmes continued to dominate TV viewing via
BBC iPlayer in January. For radio programmes online, live listening requests increased
again by +2 points to make up 74%.
TV Requests Radio requests
5% 6% 2% *
4% 7% 8% 8%
66% 68% 67% 69% 72% 72% 74%
95% 94% 98% 96% 93% 92% 92%
34% 32% 33% 31% 28% 28% 26%
Jul09 Aug09 Sep09 Oct09 Nov09 Dec09 Jan10 Jul09 Aug09 Sep09 Oct09 Nov09 Dec09 Jan10
Simulcast Simulcast
Ondemand Ondemand
* There were technical problems measuring some simulcast streams in September and October
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes
15. 15
BBC iPlayer – use for TV by time of day, January 2010
The scale for each line on this graph is different – TV viewing is far higher than BBC iPlayer
use. However it shows the relative usage pattern by time of day – with BBC iPlayer use
(for TV) being far closer to the pattern of TV viewing, than of internet use, with
proportionally more viewing in daytime and late peak.
Internet and TV usage patterns by time of day
Note: each line has a very different scale (see peaks)
(scales adjusted for comparison)
TV viewers
BBC iPlayer TV requests iPlayer peak – 201,000
TV peak – 28.4 million
Internet users (any website) Internet peak – 28.9 million
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
00
01
02
03
04
05
Sources– TV (aged 4+) from BARB Jan 10, internet (aged 2+) from Nielsen Jan 10,
iPlayer Jan 10 iStats
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes See footnotes on slide 17 for more detail
16. 16
BBC iPlayer – use for radio by time of day, January 2010
The scale for each line on this graph is different – radio listening is far higher than BBC
iPlayer use. However it shows the relative usage pattern by time of day – with BBC
iPlayer use (for radio) being inbetween the pattern of radio listening and internet use, with
proportionally more listening in daytime and evening compared with the traditional linear
breakfast peak.
Internet and radio usage patterns by time of day
Note: each line has a very different scale (see peaks)
(scales adjusted for comparison)
iPlayer peak – 94,000 Internet peak – 28.9 million
Radio peak 14 million
Radio listeners
BBC iPlayer requests for radio
Internet users (any website)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
:0
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
00
01
02
03
04
05
Sources radio (aged 16+) from RAJAR Q3 09, internet (aged 2+) from Nielsen Jan 10,
iPlayer Jan 10 BBC iStats
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes See footnotes on slide 17 for more detail
17. 17
BBC iPlayer use by demographic
Use of BBC iPlayer is measured on a BBC monthly survey of 700 UK adults. The demographic
profile of BBC iPlayer has stabilised for gender, and remains strongly under55.
100% 100%
20 16 16 17 16 15 14
31 21
80% 37 41 41 42 41
43 44 80%
41 39 41 42 40 55+
60% 60% 42
39 43
Women
35-54
40% 40%
70 Men
63 59 59 58 59 15-34
57 56
20% 41 43 45 43 43 46
20% 38 38
0% 0%
Jan- Apr- Jul- Oct- Jan- Apr- Jul- Oct- Jan- Apr- Jul- Oct- Jan- Apr- Jul- Oct-
Mar Jun Sep Dec Mar Jun Sep Nov Mar Jun Sep Dec Mar Jun Sep Nov
Gender Age
15
55+ 23
36 34
Women 42
48 52 51
42
35-54 41
36 34
Men
15-34
58
52 48 49 43
37 32
30
Users of BBC All broadband All TV viewers All radio Users of BBC All broadband All TV All radio
iPlayer on PC users listeners iPlayer on PC users viewers listeners
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes User profiles TV from BARB, radio from RAJAR (Q3 09), broadband from TNS survey 2000 adults
18. 18
Glossary
Stream – click to play instantly
Download – save to your computer to play later
We cannot report on playback of downloads due to technical and data privacy restrictions
Users – a count of computer browers accessing the online BBC iPlayer service
So please note: if someone has a different computer at work and at home, they are counted twice. If a family watches on
a computer together, only one browser is counted. This is the industrystandard way of counting “users” or “visitors” to
websites.
Requests – number of successful requests to stream or download a programme
We only count successful requests, where a stream or a download actually start, rather than “clicks” which can be repeated
if the user does not see an immediate reaction on the website.
Catchup / ondemand – programmes requested after they have gone out on “normal”
TV/radio channels and are available on BBC iPlayer
Live / simulcast – streaming of live TV channels / radio stations on the website, at
exactly the same time as broadcast on “normal” TV / radio
Special footnotes for slides 1415
TV data – BARB average audience, live overnights, by hour, 0131 Dec 09, all individuals
aged 4+, Total TV
Radio data RAJAR average audience, Q3 09, by hour, all adults 16+, all radio stations
BBC iPlayer average requests over 0131 December 09, by hour, all programmes, stream
& downloading, live & ondemand, UK only
Nielsen – December 09, user numbers (aged 2+ based on internet population estimate of
39 million individuals
Please refer to slide 4 for guide footnotes