Mobile and tablet use drive iPlayer TV above 200 million for first time

Continued strong increases in mobile and tablet use, as well as improved measurement of radio plays helped drive BBC iPlayer to a record-breaking January, according to the latest statistics on the catch-up service to be released by the BBC.

There were 272 million iPlayer requests in January, up 26% on the previous month. TV requests passed the 200 million mark for the first time. There were 37 million TV requests on tablets, up from 26 million in December, and requests on mobile devices grew to 38 million from 28 million in December. TV requests on computers grew from 77 million to 87 million month-on-month, with smaller increases for TV platform operators, Smart TVs and games consoles.

Overall numbers were boosted by a fix to the reporting of radio statistics on computers, which had not been functioning properly during the previous few months.

Top iPlayer TV shows included episode one of Africa, with 2.279 million requests, followed by Top Gear, series 19, episode one, with 1.887 million and Miranda, series 3, episode 3, with 1.794 million. Comedy show Miranda took six of the top 20 iPlayer TV slots, while wildlife documentary series Africa occupied four of the top 20 slots.