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The catch-up TV service of BBC, the iPlayer saw a sudden unprecedented increase in user demand during the fag end of the year 2009. The last two weeks of December coinciding with the festive season brought in additional demand from people who chose to watch their favourite programmes at a time of their convenience.

According to BBC sources, the most viewed and requested programmes were the Christmas special shows of Gavin and Stacey and Dr. Who. Viewers also seemed to like the last show of Terry Wogan at Radio 2 breakfast show.

As a result of the increased demand for these special shows, the number of people requesting online content touched the one hundred million mark for this month. This translates into an average of ten requests for every broadband internet user. Further, a survey also revealed that one in eight requests is routed through Nintendo Wii or Sony PS3 console.

While commenting on this encouraging demand for BBC iPlayer Mr Erik Huggers, director of future media and technology at the BBC, was of the opinion that this vindicated the fact that if simple access is provided viewers will use the service to watch their favourite programmes. Expressing satisfaction at crossing the hundred million mark Mr Huggers also hoped that in future this service will become all the more popular among the TV viewers with new technologies and innovations providing impetus to the growing popularity of iPlayer.