BBC reveals iPlayer user habits

The BBC has lifted the lid on its online on-demand TV service iPlayer to reveal how people are using the service.

The most common age group using iPlayer is 35- to 44-year-olds, with a quarter of all users coming from this section of the population, according to research commissioned by the BBC's marketing, communications and audiences group.

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iPlayer has good levels of repeat viewing with 17 per cent of users having watched more than 20 programmes using the service. Just 13 per cent said they've only used the service once.

Just over half of users (51 per cent) access iPlayer via a desktop computer, with 32 per cent using their laptops.

But following the introduction of iPlayer for Mac and Linux late last year, just five per cent use Mac and one per cent use Linux operating systems.

There's also evidence that people are linking up the service to their TV, with five per cent saying they always view iPlayer with their TV connected to their computer.

Looking at the different ways of obtaining content, 18 per cent of iPlayer users said they never stream, while 42 per cent never use the download service.

The BBC also claims to have identified the typical user for iPlayer - a 40-year-old man in full time employment, with a partner but no children.

This user will have found the service through the BBC home page and streams programmes using the full-screen mode. But they've never used it on a portable device or Nintendo Wii.

Writing on the BBC blog, Anthony Rose, head of digital media for BBC Future Media and Technology, said: "It's great to have some solid evidence to back up our ideas on how people were using the service, and I've been delighted to see how positive people are about it."

He added the findings will guide decisions about iPlayer's future in terms of product development and encouraging new people to use it.

The research covered 2,027 UK adults and was conducted for the BBC by Dipsticks Research Limited in May.