BBC iPlayer has reported its best year ever, breaking 7bn streams for the first time. 2022 grew 9 per cent on 2021, and ended the year with both the best month and best quarter iPlayer has ever seen, with 700m streams for December and 2bn streams in the last three months of the year.

The World Cup capped the year in spectacular fashion, topping the streaming rankings with 92.3m streams on iPlayer, while also reaching 38.8m on BBC TV.

Doctor Who finished in second place, with 56.1m streams, closely followed by Peaky Blinders with over 55.6m streams for the boxset

Other popular boxsets of the year included Waterloo Road (2006-2015 – 46m streams); and Death in Paradise (46m streams)

Sporting events were also among the most-watched programmes of the year, including Commonwealth Games (53m streams, plus reached 28.6m on BBC TV) and Wimbledon (43m streams, plus reached 27.4m on BBC TV)

New dramas dominate the most watched episodes per series of the year – with The Tourist, The Responder, SAS Rogue Heroes, Inside Man, Sherwood and This is Going to Hurt all making the top 10 most streamed episodes. EastEnders enjoyed its best year ever on iPlayer, streamed 366m times

“2022 saw huge growth for BBC iPlayer,” said Director of BBC iPlayer, Dan McGolpin. 7bn 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.”