BBC iPlayer surpasses 100m shows a month

The BBC iPlayer has served more than 100 million programme requests in a month for the first time.

The BBC’s on-demand service surpassed the 100m barrier in December, as users surged to catch up with all the Christmas television. The Gavin & Stacey and Doctor Who Christmas specials were among the most watched television shows, while Terry Wogan’s final appearance on the Radio 2 breakfast show was also in high demand.

While the PC remains the predominant way of accessing the iPlayer, the service is becoming increasingly popular on games consoles and mobile devices. One in eight people now use the iPlayer from a PlayStation or Wii console, according to the BBC.

“Breaking the 100 million barrier is a great way to kick off 2010 and these figures show that by offering simple and varied access to BBC iPlayer people are really finding it easy to catch up with their favourite programmes at a time that suits them,” says Erik Huggers, director of future media and technology at the BBC.

“I expect more people to start using the service as we continue to make it more widely available and I’m looking forward to some of the new innovations we have coming to the service later on in the year.”

However, the increasing popularity of the iPlayer is likely to further antagonise ISPs, who have frequently complained of the service’s impact on bandwidth during peak periods.

BT last year accused the BBC of getting a “free ride” with the iPlayer, suggesting that the BBC should contribute to the bandwidth bills.