BBC Enjoys Record-Breaking Christmas on Mobile

p01pcztlOn Boxing Day, the BBC iPlayer service saw views from tablets overtake desktop for the first time ever, with over 2m requests coming from tablet devices.

On New Years Day, however – the biggest-ever day for iPlayer at 10.9m requests, up 35 per cent year-on-year – PCs were back in the lead, albeit narrowly. Smartphones lagged behind, making up approximately a fifth of views, compared to around a third each for PCs and tablets. Internet-connected TVs werent far behind smartphones, as you can see on the graph to the left – just click to see it full size.

It was an undeniably successful period for the Beeb, however, with the iPlayer apps attracting 941,000 downloads on smartphones and tablets between 21 December and 1 January. Doctor Who was the biggest programme during the festive period, with the Christmas special attracting 2m views on iPlayer.

Meanwhile, BBC Sport saw record traffic from mobile devices, breaking the 3m uniques mark for the first time on Boxing Day, 2.7m of it from smartphones and 1.3m from tablets. Together, mobile devices accounted for a combined 72 per cent of traffic on Boxing Day, and 70 per cent on New Year’s Day.