This past year was BBC iPlayer’s biggest year ever, with 7 billion streams, an all-time high. Compared to the previous year, 2022 saw a 9 percent increase in growth, and the final three months of the year were the best for iPlayer ever, with 700 million streams in December and 2 billion streams in the preceding three months.
The World Cup was a wonderful way to end the year, with over 92 million streams on iPlayer and over 38.8 million viewers on BBC TV.
The BBC has also released new information today, including:
Over 55 million people watched the whole boxset of Peaky Blinders this year, and its return was the most-watched episode at 6.9 million.
Doctor Who (56 million streams), Waterloo Road (2006-2015) (46m streams), and Death in Paradise (46m streams) also made the list of most-watched boxsets of the year.
The Commonwealth Games (53m streaming, plus reached 28.6 million on BBC TV) and Wimbledon were also among the year’s most-watched shows (43m streams, plus reached 27.4 million on BBC TV)
Among the top 10 most streamed episodes of the year, eight are from new dramas: The Tourist, The Responder, SAS Rogue Heroes, Inside Man, Sherwood, and This is Going to Hurt.
With 366 million streams in 2015, EastEnders had its best year ever on iPlayer.
Director of BBC iPlayer Dan McGolpin says: “2022 saw huge growth for BBC iPlayer, 7 billion streams is double where we were a few years ago. Alongside the big events like the World Cup and the outstanding coverage of the state funeral for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, people arrived in their millions to watch an array of big drama boxsets including the final series of Peaky Blinders and a large number of brand new series such as The Tourist, The Responder and SAS Rogue Heroes. Over the last year we’ve added more choice than ever before in every genre, with plenty more in store for 2023.”
The most-watched programmes* across 2022 (Not including continuing series like EastEnders, news and children’s content):
Rank – Programme – Streams
1 – FIFA World Cup 2022 – 92,267,000
2 – Doctor Who – 56,100,000
3 – Peaky Blinders – 55,609,000
4 – Commonwealth Games – 52,781,000
5 – Waterloo Road (2006-15) – 46,380,000
6 – Death in Paradise – 46,091,000
7 – Strictly Come Dancing – 44,909,000
8 – Silent Witness – 44,665,000
9 – Wimbledon – 42,678,000
10 – Match of the Day – 40,451,000
The top episodes per series in 2022:
Rank – Programmes – Episode – Streams
1 – Peaky Blinders – Series 6 – Black Day – 6,925,000
2 – The Tourist – Episode 1 – 6,428,000
3 – The Responder – Episode 1 – 6,164,000
4 – FIFA World Cup 2022 – England v Iran – 5,592,000
5 – SAS Rogue Heroes – Episode 1 – 5,526,000
6 – The State Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II – London – 5,043,000
7 -Inside Man – Episode 1 – 5,028,000
8 – The Apprentice – Series 16 – Cruise Ship – 4,889,000
9 – Sherwood – Episode 1 – 4,855,000
10 – This Is Going To Hurt – Episode 1 – 4,753,000