Drama and National Events push iPlayer forward
AUGUST 16, 2022 10.48 EUROPE/LONDON BY JULIAN CLOVER

Final series of Peaky Blinders, The Split, and Killing Eve combined with Glastonbury, the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and the Eurovision Song Contest helped BBC iPlayer deliver record numbers.


Between April and June, programmes were streamed over 1.6 billion times, making it iPlayer’s best ever second quarter. It is also iPlayer’s best first six months of the year with programmes streamed 140 million times more than the same period last year.

““I’m delighted with the performance of BBC iPlayer during the second quarter of 2022, with the BBC’s unique and distinctive programme range creating compelling choices for all,” said Dan McGolpin, director of BBC iPlayer and channels.

Live events performed strongly with Glastonbury also becoming the period’s best performing boxset with 36 million streams up to the end of June, and 39.4 million to date – and reached a total of 20.6 million people across both the TV broadcast and iPlayer.

The BBC has been driving uptake of its Boxed Sets, which also include The Split (35.5 million) and Silent Witness (20.7 million).

Final series also helped drive viewing – the final episode of Peaky Blinders was the best episode of the quarter, streamed 4 million times, plus there were strong performances from the last series of The Split and Killing Eve.

New drama such as Sherwood, the first episode of which was streamed 2.8 million times, and new comedy Here We Go, whose first episode saw 2.2 million streams, proved there is more bankable content on the way.

Rank Programme Series Episode Streams
1 Peaky Blinders Series 6 Lock and Key 4,073,000
2 The Split Series 3 Episode 4 3,714,000
3 The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Platinum Party at the Palace 3,080,000
4 Glastonbury 2022 Glastonbury Channel – Saturday 2,855,000
5 Sherwood Series 1 Episode 1 2,810,000
6 The FA Cup 2021/22 FA Cup Channel 2,704,000
7 Eurovision Song Contest 2022 Final 2,422,000
8 Killing Eve Series 4 Oh Goodie, I’m the Winner 2,349,000
9 Here We Go Series 1 Mum’s Birthday Voucher 2,204,000
10 Freeze the Fear with Wim Hof Series 1 Episode 1 2,146,000
BBC iPlayer’s top performing episodes per series between April and June