iPlayer enjoyed its busiest ever day on January 1, BBC says

Dracula and Doctor Who helped iPlayer achieve its busiest 24 hours ever, the BBC said.

The streaming service received 17.9 million requests to stream or download programmes on New Year’s Day, the corporation said, up more than a third on last year.

That total beat the record set a week earlier on Boxing Day, according to the BBC.

January 1’s performance was powered by the opening episode of the BBC’s adaption of Dracula, starring Claes Bang and the first instalment of the new series of Doctor Who, which saw Jodie Whittaker returning as the Time Lord.

Overall, the iPlayer achieved its best festive fortnight ever, with 203 million requests to stream or download programmes from December 20 to January 2, the BBC said.

Gavin & Stacey’s long-awaited return was the top holiday episode, with 4.6 million requests.

The beloved sitcom’s original three series also fared well, with 6.8 million requests.

EastEnders made up nine of the top 20 episodes on iPlayer over the Christmas period.

There were 15.6 million requests for the long-running soap over the fortnight, with the Christmas Day episode topping the pile with 2.2 million requests.

Other strong performers include the Call The Midwife Christmas special with 1.8 million requests and the drama A Christmas Carol with 1.6 million requests, according to the BBC.

Dan McGolpin, controller of iPlayer and programming at the BBC, said: “It was a cracking Christmas for BBC iPlayer with more people than ever enjoying a huge range of great shows.”