EastEnders has strong month on BBC iPlayer with more than nine million streams
New data has been revealed about the catch-up service across the month of February.
EastEnders scored a successful month on BBC iPlayer in February, with nine episodes among the top 20 most-streamed programmes.
Newly released data about the BBC’s catch-up service shows that the soap’s nine episodes were requested 9.36 million times across the month.
One of the most popular episodes of the London-based soap, with 1.1 million requests, saw Jacqueline Jossa make her departure as Lauren Branning, as her on-screen sister Abi (Lorna Fitzgerald) was laid to rest following her tragic death.
The BBC said the total number of streams for the month on the platform was 285 million, making it iPlayer’s third best month ever, and the strongest February on record.
The corporation added that there was a 4% year-on-year increase, with average daily requests of 10.2 million.
Topping the list of broadcasts overall on iPlayer was the first episode of new drama series Requiem.
The supernatural thriller’s debut was viewed more than 1.8 million times in February.
The second episode only fared half as well though, coming in at 18th place on the list with 988,000 requests across the month.
Drama programmes made up 19 of the top 20 most-streamed shows overall, with McMafia, Collateral, Silent Witness and Troy: Fall Of A City taking up the majority of slots, alongside EastEnders and Requiem.
An episode of Collateral, starring Carey Mulligan, was the second most-watched broadcast overall for the month, racking up 1.7 million streams.
James Norton’s Russian-based series McMafia – which debuted on New Year’s Day – was in third place, with one of its episodes being streamed 1.4 million times on iPlayer in February.
Dan McGolpin, controller of programming and daytime for the BBC, said: “February was a record-breaking month for BBC iPlayer, with new drama titles such as Requiem and Collateral leading the way.
“McMafia continued its strong performance from January, with the full series attracting viewers beyond the transmission of the final episode.”
