The BBC's iPlayer service served a record-breaking 2.32 billion programme requests in 2012, but it was mobiles and not PCs driving the boom, the BBC has reported.
Anyone worried that the BBC's popularity might be waning will be encouraged by the staggering popularity of iPlayer, while anyone worried about the decline of the PC probably won't.
The iPlayer served 36.5 billion minutes of programming, with the Olympic Opening Ceremony on and after 29 July the most popular single programme with 3.3 million requests.
But it is the platforms on which this content was consumed that are the most revealing, with access from PCs dropping below 50 percent of viewing for the first time.
Mobiles and tablets grew 177 percent year-on-year to account for over a quarter of all viewing, with the remaining quarter or so viewed through Internet-connected TV sets, digiboxes and games consoles.
Mobile downloads have also registered impressive growth since the service was launched in September 2012, reaching 10.8 million.
The PC, then, is being sandwiched between the changing nature of TV consumption and mobiles used to watch on-the-move. At this rate of decline it will soon become a legacy device.
Viewers also seem to be consuming more content primarily through iPlayer rather than as scheduled programming on TV; December and the Christmas period recorded 217 million TV and radio requests on their own with January 1st 2013 hitting a record 6.73 million requests on its own.
"Last year, the use of iPlayer shifted from PCs and early adopter devices like game consoles to screens used by all audiences," noted Daniel Danker, General Manager, Programmes and On-Demand.
"Mobile, tablet, and connected TV skyrocketed, with a particular emphasis on audiences taking iPlayer on the go," he said.
Ultimately, it is not technology itself that is the point of iPlayer but the popularity of its programmes, particularly the worldwide phenomenon that is car comedy satire-cum-enthusiast show, Top Gear.
This programme alone accounted for eight of the top 20 programmes watched in the year.
See also:
Google faces legal action in the UK over Safari cookies
Twitter's Vine ripe with users of video sharing service
Microsoft can 'start printing money' as soon as it launches Office for iOS
Contact Us
Digg
It's easy and free to get the latest news headlines, reviews and opinions straight to your email inbox. Sign up NOW to make sure you receive the latest Mac news, reviews and tutorials on your favourite topics.
Comments received
2020hindsight said on Mon, 28 Jan 2013
I wonder what percentage of these were from legit British residents who have paid the license fee ? It was clear on Twitter that large numbers of Americans were using well known means to fool iPlayer into thinking they were in the UK !
Disclaimer
Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Macworld. Macworld accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content.
Click here to read the house rules.
Click here for the latest reader comments