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"The London Olympics, Sherlock and Top Gear helped BBC iPlayer enjoy another record-breaking year in 2012, with users consuming more than 36 billion minutes of BBC content across multiple devices, particularly mobile.  In 2012, audiences spent 34% more time in iPlayer watching TV than the previous year, and Danny Boyle&amp;#039;s glittering Olympic Opening Ceremony topped the iPlayer viewing with 3.33m requests, followed by episodes of Top Gear (2.83m) and Sherlock (2.53m).   Overall, there were a record 2.32 billion requests for TV and radio programmes on iPlayer in 2012, and users soaked up 36.5bn minutes of BBC programmes across all the 650 platforms where iPlayer is available. Online via PCs and Macs remains the most popular way to access iPlayer, but the BBC says that demand from mobiles and tablets increased significantly over 2012.  According to a BBC report, there was a 177% year-on-year uplift in requests from mobiles and tablets last year, and these devices now account for more than a quarter of total iPlayer requests.  In addition, for the first time in iPlayer&amp;#039;s history requests from PCs comprised less than half of total iPlayer requests (47%) in the month of December, suggesting a behavioural shift towards mobile.  The various iPlayer mobile apps have been downloaded more than 14m times, including 300,000 downloads on Christmas Day alone, as users activated new devices such as the Nexus 7 and iPad Mini.   Following the introduction of mobile downloads in September last year, 10.8m programmes were saved offline to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices. Downloaded programmes now make up 6% of TV viewing on mobiles and tablets, offering a way to watch content while away from a WiFi or cellular signal.  2012 also saw the launch of Live Restart, a tool for rewinding and restarting live TV streams, which has been used by 30% of those watching TV on iPlayer. BBC iPlayer also finally launched on Sky last year, giving access to millions of satellite pay-TV homes.  Top Gear led the way in the most popular programmes in 2012, with eight episodes of the motoring show making it into the top 20 programmes.  Also featured on the list were the London 2012 Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies, along with Sherlock, The Apprentice, Doctor Who, The Voice UK and new BBC One comedy Citizen Khan. The top three radio programmes in 2012 were Jay-Z performing live at Radio 1&amp;#039;s Hackney Weekend, Wallace and Gromit at the Proms, and Rihanna live at Radio 1&amp;#039;s Hackney Weekend. BBC iPlayer celebrated its fifth birthday on Christmas Day 2012, and December was also the most popular month of the year, with a record 217m TV and radio programme requests.  Festive TV specials such as Doctor Who - The Snowmen, EastEnders and Miranda were the most popular programmes throughout the month, while Outnumbered, Call The Midwife and Merlin also performed well.  The New Year has already started well for the platform, with 6.7m requests for TV programmes on January 1 alone, the most requests ever seen in a 24-hour period. BBC general manager of programmes and on-demand, Daniel Danker, said that 2012 was a &amp;quot;ground-breaking&amp;quot; year for the on-demand platform, particularly on mobile.  &amp;quot;Last year, the use of iPlayer shifted from PCs and early adopter devices like game consoles to screens used by all audiences,&amp;quot; he said.  &amp;quot;Mobile, tablet, and connected TV skyrocketed, with a particular emphasis on audiences taking iPlayer on the go.  &amp;quot;This year, we&amp;#039;re looking forward to turning iPlayer into an entertainment destination, with a relentless focus on making iPlayer as easy and enjoyable as television.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/media/news/a453427/bbc-iplayer-more-than-23-billion-programme-requests-in-2012/>