July 2018
Performance Report
Richard Bell, BBC iPlayer
BBC Communications
07725641207 | [email protected]
July 2018 summary
Slide 2
• In July the UK bathed in a glorious heatwave, and was hooked on the second half of the FIFA World Cup. BBC iPlayer is typically quieter during the sunnier summer months, but in July had a total of 281 million requests, up 13% on June, and up 19% compared to the previous year.
• 22% of all requests were for live content in July. However, June 2018 saw an even larger share of live requests. Thanks to the start of the FIFA World Cup, live TV requests went up by 30% compared to May 2018. The overall share of live TV requests went up to 26% of all requests – the highest share of live viewing since the Rio Olympics 2016.
• The FIFA World Cup has dominated the top 20 most-requested episodes, with the England vs. Sweden game reaching over 3 million requests.
• Please note: Top performing episodes for May and June 2018 have been included in this pack.
Consistent with previous months:
• TV platforms remain the largest device type accessing BBC iPlayer with 52% of total requests.
• The profile of BBC iPlayer users remains strongly under-55 in terms of age, which is younger than the typical TV viewer’s profile (although more in line with home broadband users).
• BBC iPlayer is used for TV at roughly the same time of day as linear TV viewing, although there is proportionally more daytime and later-peak use.
Index
Slide 3
Page Content
4-5 Monthly BBC iPlayer TV programme requests
6 Weekly TV programme requests by device type
7 Live vs on-demand TV requests
8 Notes about the data in this report
9-11 Top TV programmes – recent months
12 Use of BBC iPlayer for TV viewing by time of day
13 Profile of BBC iPlayer users
14 Glossary
45
127
145
212
242
273
250
298
328
Ja
n 0
9
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
pt
No
v
Ja
n 1
0
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n 1
1
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n 1
2
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n-1
3
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n-1
4
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n-1
5
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n-1
6
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n-1
7
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n-1
8
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Monthly BBC iPlayer requests across all platforms, since 2009
Slide 4
Seasonally, BBC iPlayer is quieter during summer months, and the unusual heatwave across the UK will have affected iPlayer viewing in July. However, continuation of the FIFA World Cup (and home nation interest) drew audiences in when they might otherwise have been enjoying the sunshine. July 2018 delivered 281 million TV programme requests (up 13% compared to June 2018, and up 19% compared to July 2017).
Mil
lio
ns
of
req
ue
sts
pe
r m
on
th
Data missing*
Measurement correction*
TV requests artificially inflated*
DATA SOURCE CHANGE
July: 281m
* Please refer to slide 8 for guide notes on months with data caveats
January figures shown on graph
1.6
2.9
4.1
4.7
6.8
7.8
8.8
8.1
9.6
10.6
Ja
n 0
9
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
pt
No
v
Ja
n 1
0
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n 1
1
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n 1
2
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n-1
3
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n-1
4
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n-1
5
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n-1
6
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n-1
7
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Se
p
No
v
Ja
n-1
8
Ma
r
Ma
y
Ju
l
Average daily BBC iPlayer online requests
Slide 5
Mil
lio
ns
of
req
ue
sts
pe
r d
ay
(a
ve
rag
e m
on
thly
)
There was an average of 9.1m daily requests for TV content in July, which was a increase of 9% on June 2018, and a increase of 19% compared with July 2017.
TV requests artificially inflated*
Data missing *
Measurement correction*
DATA SOURCE CHANGE
July: 9.1m
Please refer to slide 8 for guide notes
January figures shown on graph
26% 20% 17% 15% 14% 15%
16%
11% 11% 11% 10% 12%
22%
24% 23% 24%
20% 20%
32% 44% 48% 49%
54% 52%
4% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Fe
b-1
6
Ap
r-1
6
Ju
n-1
6
Au
g-1
6
Oc
t-1
6
De
c-1
6
Fe
b-1
7
Ap
r-1
7
Ju
n-1
7
Au
g-1
7
Oc
t-1
7
De
c-1
7
Fe
b-1
8
Ap
r-1
8
Ju
n-1
8
Unknown
TV Platform
Tablet
Mobile
Computer
DATA SOURCE CHANGE
Slide 6
% of requests Number of requests (millions)
Requests for TV programmes by device type
DATA SOURCE CHANGE
TV platforms remain the largest platform for BBC iPlayer, making up 52% of overall share in July, a 3% increase on the same period last year.
Please refer to slide 8 for guide notes.
64 46 48 45 35 45 44 41
38
26 30 33 27
30 31 35
53
57 65 70
58 59 66
55
79 102
125 123
116
153 171
146
-
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Feb
-16
Ap
r-1
6
Jun
-16
Au
g-1
6
Oc
t-1
6
De
c-1
6
Feb
-17
Ap
r-1
7
Jun
-17
Au
g-1
7
Oc
t-1
7
De
c-1
7
Feb
-18
Ap
r-1
8
Jun
-18
Mill
ion
s
92
%
93
%
93
%
93
%
93
%
89
%
81
%
72
%
85
%
85
%
83
%
85
%
83
%
84
%
83
%
84
%
82
%
79
%
82
%
83
%
82
%
82
%
81
%
82
%
82
%
79
%
81
%
81
%
80
%
74
%
78
%
8%
7%
7%
7%
7%
11
%
19
%
28
%
15
%
15
%
17
%
15
%
17
%
16
%
17
%
16
%
18
%
21
%
18
%
17
%
18
%
18
%
19
%
18
%
18
%
21
%
19
%
19
%
20
%
26
%
22
%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
On-demand Live
Live versus on-demand requests for TV programmes
Slide 7
% requests for TV programmes
Please refer to slide 8 for guide notes.
DATA SOURCE CHANGE
22% of all requests were for live content in July. However, June 2018 saw an even larger share of live requests. Thanks to the start of the FIFA World Cup, live TV requests went up by 30% compared to May 2018. The overall share of Live TV requests went up to 26% of all requests – the highest share of live viewing since the Rio Olympics 2016.
Notes: Source switched from iStats AV to Streamsense in Adobe Digital Analytix (iStats) in July 2016
Notes for figures in this report
Slide 8
Data issues to note
• Figures for Sky are undercounted in June 2017 by approximately 0.5m requests.
• Figures for Virgin Cable and Sky are estimates for September 2016. Games console requests were undercounted in January 2016, and Android devices were undercounted from 16th to 31st March 2016.
• TV requests were inflated in August and September 2015 by around 18-25%, please treat these figures with caution when looking at trends.
• Some TV request data was not captured in March 2015 (estimated 17m requests). Some TV request data is also missing for 2014 - about 3.5m requests in August and 11.5m requests in September from computer devices, and about 6m requests are missing in December, across all device types. We are not including these estimates in the graphs in this report.
The remainder of this report excludes data from Virgin Media cable and Sky. The data arrives later than that from other platforms and is not currently consolidated within BBC Digital Analytics systems.
These notes below apply to all the data in this pack and should be included as footnotes when quoting any of these figures. A glossary is on the final page of the pack.
• Prior to July 2016, requests data was measured via a BBC in-house system (BBC iStats AV). Since July 2016 the source has changed to StreamSense by Adobe Digital Analytix. Data is broadly comparable, and most step-changes are due to device categorisation correction, and a small amount of data missing from BBC iStats AV (such as live TV viewing on TV platforms, and webcasts).
• In 2009 the BBC refined its methodology for measuring AV requests, so figures for 2007/8 are not comparable.
• Note on the top 20 lists for TV episodes: these show the most-requested individual episodes for the month, for interest, but only represent a fraction of all the episodes available on iPlayer. They are indicative only, since they do not represent total request numbers per series, and are only measured in the calendar month.
• Unless specified otherwise, figures include requests for both on-demand catch-up (streams and downloads), or views of live simulcasts. All data is for the UK only. Requests are counted for BBC iPlayer on any BBC website or application – whether on a programme, channel or station page, or on the BBC iPlayer websites or bespoke mobile or TV apps. This report does not include requests for web-only content (such as online news or sport coverage). Webcasts are only included if they have been made available through BBC iPlayer. Figures in this report include requests for programmes which are only on iPlayer, as well as for programmes previously shown on linear TV. On average this has boosted the totals by 2% since 2014.
BBC iPlayer - top 20 TV episodes, July 2018 (excluding Virgin Media cable and Sky)
Slide 9
MOTD Live 2018 World Cup Quarter-Final: Sweden v England 3,151,000
MOTD Live 2018 World Cup Semi-Final: France v Belgium 2,051,000
MOTD Live 2018 World Cup Quarter-Final: Brazil v Belgium 1,757,000
MOTD Live 2018 World Cup Round of 16: Spain v Russia 1,585,000
MOTD Live 2018 World Cup Round of 16: Belgium v Japan 1,575,000
Our Girl Nigeria, Belize and Bangladesh Tours Episode 5 1,506,000
MOTD Live 2018 World Cup Final: France v Croatia 1,384,000
EastEnders 02/07/2018 1,336,000
EastEnders 06/07/2018 1,283,000
EastEnders 10/07/2018 1,203,000
Our Girl Nigeria, Belize and Bangladesh Tours Episode 1 1,175,000
Picnic at Hanging Rock Series 1 Episode 1 1,170,000
The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan Series 1 Episode 1 1,116,000
Hidden Series 1 Episode 1 1,091,000
EastEnders 09/07/2018 1,023,000
EastEnders 13/07/2018 1,014,000
EastEnders 05/07/2018 Part 2 1,005,000
EastEnders 12/07/2018 992,000
MOTD 2018 World Cup Round of 16: Sweden v Switzerland 992,000
EastEnders 17/07/2018 990,000
MOTD Live 2018 World Cup Quarter-Final: Sweden v England 3,151,000
Our Girl Nigeria, Belize and Bangladesh Tours Episode 5 1,506,000
EastEnders 02/07/2018 1,336,000
Picnic at Hanging Rock Series 1 Episode 1 1,170,000
The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan Series 1 Episode 1 1,116,000
Hidden Series 1 Episode 1 1,091,000
Poldark Series 4 Episode 4 915,000
Keeping Faith Series 1 Episode 1 726,000
Who Do You Think You Are? Series 15 Lee Mack 702,000
Hey Duggee Series 2 The Key Badge 617,000
A Question of Sport Series 47 Episode 25 528,000
Casualty Series 32 Episode 41 514,000
Mock the Week Series 17 Episode 5 507,000
Pointless Celebrities Series 10 Experts 454,000
Versailles Series 3 The Afterlife 453,000
Bing Plasters 448,000
Holby City Series 20 Into the Light 435,000
Love & Drugs on the Street: Girls Sleeping Rough Series 3 Outside, Inside 405,000
Wimbledon 2018 Day 11, Part 1 393,000
Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing Series 1 Episode 3 381,000
BBC iPlayer Top 20 TV episodes – most requested episode per series Total requests per ep.
BBC iPlayer Top 20 TV episodes – All Total requests per ep.
Home Nation interest in the Quarter-final of the World Cup meant the Sweden v England game brought in over 3m requests. Whilst FIFA World Cup matches dominate the top 20, new/latest dramas such as Our Girl, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Hidden also performed well.
Please refer to slide 8 for guide notes
BBC iPlayer - top 20 TV episodes, June 2018 (excluding Virgin Media cable and Sky)
Slide 10
Match of the Day Live MOTD 2018 World Cup England v Panama 2,357,000
Match of the Day Live MOTD 2018 World Cup Tunisia v England 2,274,000
Our Girl Nigeria, Belize and Bangladesh Tours Episode 1 1,775,000
EastEnders 18/06/2018 1,648,000
Match of the Day Live MOTD 2018 World Cup Portugal v Spain 1,565,000
Hidden Series 1 Episode 1 1,467,000
Match of the Day Live MOTD 2018 World Cup Argentina v Nigeria 1,384,000
Match of the Day Live MOTD 2018 World Cup Round of 16: France v Argentina 1,357,000
EastEnders 25/06/2018 1,329,000
Match of the Day Live MOTD 2018 World Cup South Korea v Germany 1,270,000
Match of the Day Live MOTD 2018 World Cup Portugal v Morocco 1,253,000
Match of the Day Live MOTD 2018 World Cup Argentina v Croatia 1,220,000
Match of the Day Live MOTD 2018 World Cup Iran v Portugal 1,217,000
Match of the Day Live MOTD 2018 World Cup Egypt v Uruguay 1,216,000
A Very English Scandal Series 1 Episode 3 1,199,000
Poldark Series 4 Episode 1 1,198,000
EastEnders 15/06/2018 1,178,000
EastEnders 01/06/2018 1,158,000
EastEnders 21/06/2018 1,155,000
Match of the Day Live MOTD 2018 World Cup Germany v Mexico 1,134,000
Match of the Day Live MOTD 2018 World Cup England v Panama 2,357,000
Our Girl Nigeria, Belize and Bangladesh Tours Episode 1 1,775,000
EastEnders 18/06/2018 1,648,000
Hidden Series 1 Episode 1 1,467,000
A Very English Scandal Series 1 Episode 3 1,199,000
Poldark Series 4 Episode 1 1,198,000
Versailles Series 3 Smoke and Mirrors 734,000
The Split Series 1 Episode 6 651,000
Frankie Goes to Russia Series 1 Episode 1 632,000
Peter Kay's Car Share The Finale 621,000
The Bridge Series 4 Episode 4 609,000
Have I Got News for You Series 55 Episode 9 608,000
The Graham Norton Show Series 23 Episode 11 603,000
The Truth About... Carbs 598,000
Casualty Series 32 Episode 37 585,000
The Jeremy Thorpe Scandal 545,000
Mock the Week Series 17 Episode 1 528,000
Conviction Murder in Suburbia Episode 1 511,000
Ambulance Series 3 Episode 6 484,000
Britain's Best Home Cook Series 1 The Final 474,000
BBC iPlayer Top 20 TV episodes – most requested episode per series Total requests per ep.
Please refer to slide 8 for guide notes
BBC iPlayer Top 20 TV episodes – All Total requests per ep.
The FIFA World Cup has also dominated the top 20 most-requested episodes in June, with the two England games reaching over 2 million requests.
BBC iPlayer - top 20 TV episodes, May 2018 (excluding Virgin Media cable and Sky)
Slide 11
The Royal Wedding: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Live Coverage 2,596,000
The Split Series 1 Episode 1 1,572,000
Peter Kay's Car Share Unscripted 1,496,000
The Split Series 1 Episode 2 1,491,000
The Split Series 1 Episode 4 1,373,000
The Split Series 1 Episode 3 1,348,000
A Very English Scandal Series 1 Episode 1 1,303,000
EastEnders 22/05/2018 1,213,000
The Split Series 1 Episode 5 1,090,000
EastEnders 25/05/2018 1,066,000
EastEnders 24/05/2018 1,061,000
EastEnders 21/05/2018 1,058,000
EastEnders 18/05/2018 1,017,000
EastEnders 04/05/2018 995,000
EastEnders 08/05/2018 993,000
EastEnders 15/05/2018 966,000
EastEnders 01/05/2018 963,000
EastEnders 03/05/2018 961,000
EastEnders 11/05/2018 952,000
EastEnders 10/05/2018 947,000
The Royal Wedding: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Live Coverage 2,596,000
The Split Series 1 Episode 1 1,572,000
Peter Kay's Car Share Unscripted 1,496,000
A Very English Scandal Series 1 Episode 1 1,303,000
EastEnders 22/05/2018 1,213,000
The FA Cup 2017/18 Final: Chelsea v Man United 836,000
Eurovision Song Contest 2018 Grand Final 816,000
The Bridge Series 4 Episode 1 783,000
Britain's Best Home Cook Series 1 Episode 1 632,000
The Woman in White Series 1 Episode 4 594,000
Match of the Day 2017/18 13/05/2018 581,000
Have I Got News for You Series 55 Episode 7 570,000
Casualty Series 32 Episode 34 567,000
The Graham Norton Show Series 23 Episode 6 562,000
Ambulance Series 3 Episode 2 506,000
The World's Most Extraordinary Homes Series 2 USA 421,000
Peter Kay's Car Share Series 2 Episode 4 406,000
Hey Duggee Series 2 The Wedding Badge 391,000
Manchester Bomb: Our Story 390,000
Love in the Countryside Series 1 Episode 1 388,000
BBC iPlayer Top 20 TV episodes – most requested episode per series Total requests per ep.
BBC iPlayer Top 20 TV episodes – All Total requests per ep.
The Royal Wedding was by far the most requested programme in May with over 2.5m requests. New dramas The Split and A Very English Scandal also performed well, as did unscripted comedy Peter Kay’s Car Share.
Please refer to slide 8 for guide notes
BBC iPlayer – use for TV online by time of day, June 2018
Slide 12
The scale for each line on this graph is different – traditional TV viewing is far higher than BBC iPlayer use. However it shows the relative usage pattern by time of day – with BBC iPlayer use (for TV) being closer to the pattern of TV viewing, than of internet use, with proportionally more viewing in daytime and late peak.
Please refer to slide 13 for guide notes
iPlayer TV peak – 696,000
Internet peak – 28.4 million
No
te:
ea
ch
lin
e h
as
a v
ery
dif
fere
nt
sca
le
(se
e p
ea
ks)
TV peak – 23.0 million
Slide 13
In Q1 2018 there were slightly more women using BBC iPlayer than men, and it remains under-55 years in terms of age.
TV & iPlayer Product: demographics of BBC iPlayer users
Gender (latest 4 quarters) Age (latest 4 quarters)
Sources: ART (1000 UK adults each month) or CMI from Q1 14 onwards / BARB. Data up to Q1 2018
METHOD CHANGE IN 2014
36% 31% 29%
33% 35% 33%
31% 34% 38%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Users of BBC iPlayer Home broadband
users
All TV viewers
55+
35-54
16-34
43%
40%
39%
37%
46%
45%
45%
39%
37%
39%
40%
39%
39%
35%
37%
38%
37%
32%
19%
21%
22%
23%
19%
18%
18%
25%
31%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
55+
35-54
16-34
47% 49% 49%
53% 51% 51%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Users of BBC iPlayer Home broadband
users
All TV viewers
Women
Men
57%
52%
52%
51%
52%
50%
48%
47%
47%
44%
48%
49%
49%
48%
50%
52%
53%
53%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Women
Men
Glossary
Slide 14
• Requests – the number of successful requests to stream or download a programme. We only count successful requests, where a stream or a download actually starts, rather than “clicks” which can be repeated if the user does not see an immediate reaction on the website. Requests are made up of two components:
• Stream – click to play instantly
• Download – save to your device to play later. We report download playback, rather than downloads, where possible.
• Catch-up / on-demand – programmes requested after they have gone out on traditional TV and are available on BBC iPlayer.
• Live / simulcast – streaming of live TV channels on the service, at exactly the same time as broadcast on traditional TV. Since May 2016, this data also includes webcasts of live events that are available through BBC iPlayer but not available on linear TV.
Extra footnotes for slide 10 showing data for time of day • TV data – BARB average audience, live overnights, by hour, all individuals aged 4+, Total TV
• BBC iPlayer - average requests, by hour, all programmes, stream & downloading, live and on-demand, UK only
• Nielsen – user numbers, aged 2+ based on internet population estimate of 38 million individuals
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