Eve makes a killing on iPlayer
Show tops charts with 40m views
‘It’s been a huge year’
KILLING Eve was the most watched show on the BBC’s iPlayer this year, latest figures show.
The second series of the spy thriller, starring Jodie Comer as Russian assassin Villanelle, was streamed or downloaded 40.4 million times.
That was almost 13 million more than the next most popular show, series five of Line of Duty starring Vicky McClure.
Killing Eve’s first series from 2018 was also in the top five shows of this year with 22.3million viewers. The two series of the show combined have been watched 105 million times online since last year, the BBC said.
The latest series of gangster drama Peaky Blinders was in third place having been watched 26.6 million times, while Strictly Come Dancing had 23.9 million streams and downloads in fourth.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who helped create Killing Eve, also had huge success with Fleabag, the second series of which was sixth with 20.3 million.
The Apprentice, hit thriller The Capture, MasterChef and Silent Witness filled out the top ten.
The most watched individual show was the opening episode of Line of Duty, which got 5.9million viewings, followed by the first episode of Peaky Blunders with 5.8 million viewers. Seven different episodes from Killing Eve and another Peaky Blinders were the others in the ten most popular.
The most watched live show on iPlayer was the men’s final at Wimbledon with 1.6million streams, followed by rapper Stormzy’s set at Glastonbury.
Continuing series such as East-Enders and Holby City, or children’s programmes, are not included in the figures.
The BBC said the streaming service was ‘proving increasingly popular’ with young audiences, as the Corporation stepped up efforts to stop them deserting for other services such as Netflix.
It said nearly a quarter of under-35s visited iPlayer in an average week, with reality shows such as RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and Jesy Nelson: Odd One Out doing well with this age group.
The biggest month on the service was in November – which included fantasy drama His Dark Materials and natural history series Seven Worlds, One Planet – when there were 439 million streams or downloads.
Charlotte Moore, director of content, said: ‘It’s been a huge year for BBC iPlayer. As well as record-breaking figures, it’s become an entertainment destination in its own right.
‘With approval for new programmes to be available for a minimum of 12 months, this will deliver real value for licence fee payers. In 2020 we will go even further to make it the best watch ever from binge-worthy series to the biggest live TV moments.’