Russell Howard show is a hit – on catch-up

Russell Howard’s Good News has been named as one of the biggest successes of the BBC’s on-demand iPlayer.

Around a million people watched each episode on its first screening on BBC Three last month. But when repeats, iPlayer views, recordings and high-definition screenings are included, the audience more than trebles to 3.5million.

The BBC has released the so-called Live +7 data – estimating the total number of people who watched a show in the week after it first transmits – which demonstrates how incomplete a picture the traditional overnight ratings can give of a show’s popularity.

Other programmes to benefit from time-shifted viewing include Doctor Who; EastEnders and The Apprentice, whose 7.45 million overnights for the May 25 edition are boosted to 10.15 million when the additional viewings are taken into consideration.

Two Pints Of Lager is also hugely popular on reruns. One episode almost quintrupled its audience through re-runs and on-demand views, with figures increasing from 548,000 live to 2.5 million when+7 is added in.

Russell Howard’s show went out at 10.30pm on Thursday nights, but were normally screened four more times over the following days; with an HD simulcast, an early-hours repeat a couple of hours later; and two screenings on Friday night – at 9.30pm and just after midnight.

Plus his was the fifth most popular TV show on iPlayer, according to the newly-released figures for May. Episode seven in the last series attracted 700,000 iPlayer requests.

On radio, David Mitchell’s panel show The Unbelievable Truth was the most-requested show on iPlayer, with 128,000 listens. This was followed by a Man Utd v Chelsea Premiership clash, then several episodes of The News Quiz, which is also available as a podcast.

Published: 27 Jun 2011