BBC iPlayer Sees More Tablets Than Phones for First Time

British broadcaster the BBC has revealed monthly stats for its BBC iPlayer video on demand service. While many stats remained consistent with other months, such as the demographic remaining strongly under-55 in terms of age, there has been a shift in the way people are accessing the service.

According to the BBC, for the first time ever, there were more requests on tablet devices than mobile devices. In fact, tablets were a whopping 200,000 requests ahead of mobile devices. These tablet requests were apparently driven primarily by TV viewing as opposed to catching up with radio shows.

The increase in tablet requests is not particularly surprising. Leaving aside the fact that it is more enjoyable to watch your favorite shows on a 7- or 10-inch tablet as opposed to a 4- or 5-inch smartphone screen, tablets are more affordable than ever. With budget-friendly options from Amazon, Apple, Google, and many others, tablets have never been so accessible.

The shift in tablet popularity aside, the BBC says average daily requests averaged 8.1 million in March, while weekly requests peaked at 60 million in the second week of the month. 

Launched on December 25 four years ago, the BBC's iPlayer allows people to catch up on the last seven days of their favourite BBC TV and radio shows for free.