BBC%20iPlayer%20online

1
BBC iPlayer online
Monthly press pack
October 2009
2
Monthly summary October 2009

• October 2009 saw another step-change upwards in
  requests for TV and radio programmes on the
  online BBC iPlayer. In total there were 79.3
  million requests, boosted by a record-breaking
  53.2m for TV programmes (radio requests were
  fairly stable on 26.1m).
• Question Time on 22nd Oct, which had received
  widespread press attention received 0.9m requests
  across 22nd-31st and had a clear halo effect
  with user requests going up for other TV
  programmes in mid-series such as Life, Merlin and
  Buzzcocks. For radio, football coverage, The
  Chris Moyles Show and The News Quiz were among
  most popular titles.
• Computer usage still dominates iPlayer use (85
  of requests), but both the iPhone/iPod Touch and
  PS3 applications are still delivering significant
  numbers of TV requests (7 and 6 respectively).
• Consistent with previous months
• The profile of iPlayer users is evening out over
  time in terms of male/female ratio, but remains
  strongly under-55 in terms of age, which is
  younger than the typical TV viewer or radio
  listeners profile.
• On-demand makes up the great majority of TV
  programme requests (in October only 4 of
  requests were for live simulcast streams),
  however two-thirds of requests for radio streams
  are for live programmes, as opposed to on-demand
  catch-up listening. For TV, 97 of requests are
  for streams, and 3 for downloads.
• 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.
  For radio, iPlayer is used far
  more in daytime than traditional radio listening,
  which peaks at breakfast-time.

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Index
Page Monthly requests 5 Average daily
requests 6 Average daily users 7 Weekly
requests 8 Weekly users 9 Top TV
programmes 10 Top radio programmes 11 Platform
type 12 Live vs on-demand 13 Use of iPlayer for
TV by time of day 14 Use of iPlayer for radio by
time of day 15 Profile of iPlayer
users 16 Glossary 17
4
Notes on figures in this report

• These notes apply to pages 5 to 16 in this pack
  and should be included as footnotes as relevant
  when quoting any of these figures. A glossary is
  on page 17.
• This data is collected via a BBC internal data
  warehouse (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 on-demand catch-up (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
• January data excludes 1-4 January 09 since
  changes were made to the measurement system on 5
  January
• This data includes requests via the iPlayer on
  any BBC website whether on a programme, channel
  or station page, via the pop-out console, or on
  the iPlayer website itself
• None of this data is for the iPlayer on Virgin
  cable - all is for the online iPlayer, available
  via computer / mobile / games consoles
• This report does not include requests for
  web-only content (such as online news or sport
  coverage) only requests for full-length
  programmes which have been transmitted on
  a TV channel or radio station

5
Monthly BBC iPlayer Online Requests
Across October 09 the BBC iPlayer received a
total of 79.3m requests, the best month since
launch in 2007 driven by a record 53.2m
requests for TV programmes, and supported by a
strong 26.1m requests for radio programmes.
6
Average Daily BBC iPlayer Requests
In October 09 the BBC iPlayer attracted an
average of 2.6 million requests for programmes
each day, the highest figure on record 1.7m
daily for TV programmes and an average of 0.8m
for radio programmes.
7
Average Daily BBC iPlayer Users
In October 09 the BBC iPlayer attracted an
average of 1.1 million users each day, the
highest figure on record 0.7m requesting TV
content only, 0.3m requesting radio content only,
and 40,000 requesting both types of media.
8
Weekly BBC iPlayer Requests
The last 2 weeks of October saw record numbers of
TV programme requests, as a result of the
Question Time event on 22nd driving higher levels
of traffic to a range of programmes on the
service. In the last week of the month there
were 14.0m requests for TV programmes and 6.4m
for radio programmes. A strong Saturday night
line-up in particular (Strictly, Merlin)
increased requests on Sundays and resulted in w/c
26 Oct being the strongest week ever on iPlayer.
BBC iPlayer weekly requests - latest 6 months
Torchwood 5-day special
Technical problems
The data measurement systems failed over
1000-2000 on Sunday October 18th, so while
users successfully received programmes, we did
not record their usage of iPlayer.
9
Weekly BBC iPlayer Users
Question Time week saw 5.8m users and an uplift
of over 50 on the week before for users
requesting TV content.
Question Time
BBC iPlayer weekly requests - latest 6 months
Torchwood 5-day special
Technical problems
10
BBC iPlayer - Top 20 TV Episodes October 2009
Question Time achieved an exceptionally high
audience on iPlayer as it did on linear, but the
influx of users also inflated figures for a range
of other programmes over following weeks.
BBC iPLAYER TOP 20 TV EPISODES MOST-REQUESTED
EPISODE PER SERIES
BBC iPLAYER TOP 20 TV EPISODES ALL

• Total requests per episode
• Question Time 22/10/09 928,000
• Life Episode 1 664,000
• Russell Howard's Good News Episode 1 410,000
• Mock the Week Series 6 Episode 1 371,000
• Never Mind the Buzzcocks Series 23 Ep 2 362,000
• EastEnders 23/10/09 353,000
• Merlin Series 2 Episode 3 334,000
• Michael McIntyre's Comedy Rshow Ep 1 321,000
• Strictly Come Dancing Series 7 Ep 5 317,000
• Emma Episode 1 240,000
• Have I Got News for You Series 38 Ep 1 233,000
• Top Gear Series 8 Episode 1 231,000
• Criminal Justice Series 2 Episode 1 229,000
• How Not To Live Your Life Series 2 Ep 4 192,000
• Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe 29/09/09 185,000
• Shooting Stars Series 6 Ep 6 179,000
• The Armstrong Miller Show Series 2 Ep 2 179,000
• Masterchef The Professionals Series 2 Ep
  29 173,000

• Total requests per episode
• Question Time 22/10/09 928,000
• Life Episode 1 664,000
• Life Episode 2 474,000
• Russell Howard's Good News Episode 1 410,000
• Mock the Week Series 6 Episode 1 371,000
• Never Mind the Buzzcocks Series 23 Ep 2 362,000
• EastEnders 23/10/09 353,000
• Never Mind the Buzzcocks Series 23 Ep 1 353,000
• Merlin Series 2 Episode 3 334,000
• Merlin Series 2 Episode 4 323,000
• Michael McIntyre's Comedy Rshow Ep 1 321,000
• Strictly Come Dancing Series 7 Ep 5 317,000
• EastEnders 09/10/09 302,000
• Strictly Come Dancing Series 7 Ep 6 290,000
• Never Mind the Buzzcocks Series 23 Ep 3 288,000
• Strictly Come Dancing Series 7 Ep 8 281,000
• EastEnders 20/10/09 271,000
• EastEnders 02/10/09 271,000

Note excludes episodes which had been available
for fewer than seven days at the end of the
month.
11
BBC iPlayer - Top 20 Radio Episodes October 2009
The usual wide range of radio programmes was
again present in the Top 20s in October.
BBC iPLAYER TOP 20 RADIO EPISODES
MOST-REQUESTED EPISODE PER SERIES
BBC iPLAYER TOP 20 RADIO EPISODES ALL

• Total requests per episode
• 5 live Ukraine v England 10/10/20 151,000
• The Chris Moyles Show 13/10/09 94,000
• 5 live Prem Lg Man Utd v Sland 03/10/20 79,000
• The News Quiz Series 69 Episode 5 74,000
• Cricket 02/10/09 74,000
• 5 live Prem Lg Chels v Lpool 04/10/20 72,000
• Greg James 08/10/09 71,000
• The Chris Moyles Show 16/10/09 68,000
• The Unbelievable Truth Series 4 Ep 3 67,000
• The News Quiz Series 69 Episode 3 62,000
• The News Quiz Series 69 Episode 2 61,000
• The Unbelievable Truth Series 4 Ep 1 61,000
• The News Quiz Series 69 Episode 4 59,000
• The Unbelievable Truth Series 4 Ep 2 58,000
• The Chris Moyles Show 15/10/09 58,000
• The Chris Moyles Show 09/10/09 58,000
• Steve Wright in the Afternoon 08/10/09 56,000
• The Chris Moyles Show 02/10/09 55,000

• Total requests per episode
• 5 live Ukraine v England 10/10/09 151,000
• The Chris Moyles Show 13/10/09 94,000
• 5 live Prem Lg Man Utd v S'land 03/10/09 79,000
• The News Quiz Series 69 Episode 5 74,000
• Cricket 02/10/09 74,000
• 5 live Prem Lg Chels v L'pool 04/10/09 72,000
• Greg James 08/10/09 71,000
• The Unbelievable Truth Series 4 Ep 3 67,000
• Steve Wright in the Afternoon 08/10/09 56,000
• BBC Radio 1's Chart Show 11/10/09 55,000
• 5 live Prem Lg Man Und v Bolton 17/10/09 52,000
• 606 03/10/09 50,000
• Fearne Cotton 16/10/09 46,000
• 5 live League Cup Asnl v L'pool 28/10/09 45,000
• Fearne Jordin Sparks Lv Lnge 13/10/09 45,000
• 5 live Prem Lg A Vil v Man City 05/10/09 45,000
• Desert Island Discs 11/10/09 45,000
• That Mitchell and Webb Sound S4 Ep 6 40,000

Note excludes episodes which had been available
for fewer than seven days at the end of the
month.
12
Requests by platform type October 2009
Streams for computers are consistently dominating
the type of content requested, across both TV and
radio programmes. However iPhone requests are
consistently making up a noticeable proportion of
TV requests (7), as are PS3 requests (6) since
the relaunch of the iPlayer on PS3 in September.
TV Requests
Radio requests (all streams)
Streams vs downloads
Device type
Audio podcast requests are not included here
since they are not available until after the
publishing date for this pack.
13
Requests by on-demand catch-up vs live simulcast
Oct 09
On-demand requests for content dominate TV
viewing via iPlayer, whilst for radio, live
listening makes up just over two-thirds of all
programme requests.
TV Requests
Radio requests
14
BBC iPlayer use for TV by time of day, October
09
The scale for each line on this graph is
different TV viewing is far higher than iPlayer
use. However it shows the relative usage pattern
by time of day with 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.
TV peak - 35 million
Internet peak 29 million
iPlayer peak 155,000
Note each line has a very different scale (see
peaks)
Sources TV (aged 4) from BARB Oct 09, internet
(aged 2) from Nielsen Sept 09, iPlayer Oct 09
iStats (line shows requests, but 134,000 is a
count of users). See footnotes on slide 17 for
more detail
15
BBC iPlayer use for radio by time of day,
October 09
The scale for each line on this graph is
different radio listening is far higher than
iPlayer use. However it shows the relative usage
pattern by time of day with iPlayer use (for
radio) being in-between the pattern of radio
listening and internet use, with proportionally
more listening in daytime and evening compared
with the traditional linear breakfast peak.
Radio peak - 15 million
iPlayer peak 35,000
Internet peak 29 million
Note each line has a very different scale (see
peaks)
Sources - radio (aged 16) from RAJAR Q2 09,
internet (aged 2) from Nielsen Sept 09, iPlayer
October 09 iStats (line shows requests, but
35,000 is a count of users). See footnotes on
slide 17 for more detail
16
iPlayer use by demographic BBC monthly survey,
August 09
Use of the iPlayer is measured on a BBC monthly
survey of 700 UK adults. The demographic profile
of iPlayer is slowly evening out in gender terms,
but remaining strongly under-55.
Gender
Age
User profiles - TV from BARB, radio from RAJAR,
broadband from TNS survey 2000 adults
17
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 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
industry-standard 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. Catch-up / on-demand programmes
requested after they have gone out on normal
TV/radio channels and are available on
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 14-15 TV data BARB
average audience, live overnights, by hour, 01-30
Sept 09, all individuals aged 4, Total
TV Radio data - RAJAR average audience, Q2 09, by
hour, all adults 16, all radio stations iPlayer
- average requests over 01-30 September 09, by
hour, all programmes, stream downloading, live
on-demand, UK only Nielsen September 09, user
numbers (aged 2 based on internet population
estimate of 39 million individuals