iPlayer sees month-on-month decline in April

The BBC iPlayer service saw usage fall month-on-month in April, with 141 million requests across all platforms, down from 160 million in March. However, usage was up year-on-year from 123 million last April.

BBC iPlayer online requests numbered 85 million in April (down from 96 million in March) while Virgin Media iPlayer requests numbered 23 million (down from 25 million). iPlayer radio requests numbered 33 million, down from 38 million. The month-on-month decline was attributed in part to the unseasonably warm weather in the UK.

Computers accounted for 68% of all iPlayer requests in April, while Virgin media accounted for 16% and games consoles for 6%. Mobile devices and tablets accounted for 5% and 2% respectively.

The first episode of the latest series of Doctor Who was the most requested programme online, with just short of 1.4 million requests.