iPad iPlayer app makes big impression

Downloads from iPad and Android devices break 50,000 in first 24 hours...

The BBC iPlayer app for iPad and Android devices launched last week was downloaded 54,511 times from the Apple App Store in the first 24 hours of availability.

On the day the iPlayer App was launched, 50 per cent of all programme requests from Android devices and 55 per cent from iPads came via the app.

Half of all programme requests from Android devices came via the BBC iPlayer app on the day of its launch
Photo: BBC

The app also boosted the number of programme requests on the platforms, with a 228 per cent increase in requests from Android devices and a 111 per cent increase from iPads between 9 February and 10 February, the day it was launched.

iPlayer hit new heights in January with 162 million TV and radio programme requests, beating the previous record of 145 million set in December last year.

This was a 12 per cent increase compared with the previous month and a 35 per cent rise compared with January 2010.

Comedy show Come Fly With Me was the most popular broadcast in January, breaking the previous stranglehold of Top Gear as the most requested iPlayer programme. The five episodes of Come Fly With Me aired in January filled the top five positions of programmes downloaded on iPlayer over the month.

The most requested radio broadcast was the third day of the final Ashes cricket test match between England and Australia.