BBC Smashes iplayer records thanks to Top Gear (and Sir Terry)
Sir Terry Wogan's grand finale as he bowed out of his breakfast show and Top Gear's Bolivia special have helped BBC iPlayer smash new records.
The on-demand service received a total of 115 million requests for TV and radio shows in December and created a new record for the number of requests in a month.
The BBC said the last two weeks of December also saw a massive increase in people accessing shows through games consoles.
One in eight of all TV requests were coming from a Nintendo Wii or Sony PS3 console - up 74% since November 2009.
The final Wake Up To Wogan on BBC Radio 2 helped make the week beginning December 14 a record week for radio requests on iPlayer.
Figures showed that there were 246,000 requests to hear the 'Togmeister' saying farewell, more than for any other radio show in December, with 7.7 million radio requests received in total for that week.
The figures were also boosted by the race for the Christmas number one, which eventually saw Rage Against The Machine triumph over X Factor winner Joe McElderry.
Erik Huggers, director of Future Media and Technology, said: "Breaking the 100 million barrier is a great way to kick off 2010 and these figures show that by offering simple and varied access to BBC iPlayer people are really finding it easy to catch up with their favourite programmes at a time that suits them."
Top Gear's Bolivia special, which originally aired on BBC2, was the most popular iPlayer TV show over Christmas, receiving more than a million requests.
Lumped together, parts one and two of BBC1's Doctor Who: The End of Time, which saw David Tennant's tear-jerking exit from the show, pulled in more than 1.3 million requests.
The week of December 28 saw 17.3 million requests come in for TV alone, creating a new record for television programme requests in a week.
Day two of the England v South Africa test match was the most popular radio programme over Christmas, with 224,800 requests, followed by Tennant's appearance on Desert Island Discs, which received 77,100.
In terms of the BBC's television channels, BBC Vision said that 2009 was a "breakthrough year" with growing audiences.
The BBC said that over Christmas, its channels increased their audience share at all times of day - from 35.7% to 36.5% - and at peak times - from 39.7% to 40.2%.
BBC1 led Christmas terrestrial viewing with an "all hours" share of 23.1%, up from 22.7% last year.
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Ben Hurst
The boys of TOP GEAR are the best. Because they have achieved these results. Do not forget that their bosses job
I love that show, Top Gear. Along with all the cool cars they present and road test I get to find out about the latest automotive hand tools used to repair or tune your car. As an enthusiast of car tuning, this show has the best and the latest tech info I need.