ITVX officially hits two billion streams

Named Best On Demand Service at the Edinburgh TV Awards

ITVX achieved two key milestones – reaching two billion streams since launch (in December 2022) and winning Best On Demand Service at the Edinburgh TV Awards.

2022 was ITV’s previous most successful year for streaming with 1.9 billion streams across the whole 12 months. ITVX reached 1 billion streams on Easter Sunday this year.

ITVX was awarded the title of Best On Demand Service at the Edinburgh TV Awards 2023, beating BBC iPlayer, Channel 4 Streaming, NOW and STV Player.

From January to June this year, ITVX attracted more viewers with monthly active users (MAU’s) up 29% year on year to 12.5 million and up 19% since year end. The new service is also attracting light viewers, our target audience, with viewing in that specific demo up 93% across the first six months in 2023.

And viewers are staying on ITVX for longer with streaming hours up 33% to 737 million hours and a 22% increase in dwell time in the same period. Plus, 86% of those viewers who came into ITVX to watch an exclusive went on to watch other great content on the platform in the first six months of this year.

Since ITVX achieved its first billion streams, ITVX premieres including Six Four and Vanishing Act have brought in millions more streams and so far this year, Love Island has been streamed more than 335 million times. The recent FIFA Women’s World Cup is ITVX’s most watched sport since April with 15 million streams and last month’s Tour de France was streamed over 5 million times, a 34% increase on last year.

Since April ITVX’s most streamed drama is Malpractice, whilst amongst the archive content Broadchurch has performed particularly well. US box sets including Vampire Diaries and its spinoff, The Originals have brought in millions of streams too. After Love Island, I’m A Celebrity South Africa is the most streamed entertainment series and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is number one in films. Factual titles have seen millions of streams over the last four months also with highlights including Rolf Harris: Hiding in Plain Sight and Boris Becker: The Rise and Fall.

ITVX’s recent focus on comedy has seen streams to the genre increase by +85% compared to last year, with the most streamed series being Alan Carr’s Changing Ends. Comedy 24/7 was one of ITVX’s most watched fast channels over the past four months, whilst the Midsomer Murders fast channel is currently in first place.

Upcoming highlights on ITVX include brand new Love & Death, a riveting psychological drama which tells the unbelievable true story of Candy Montgomery (Elizabeth Olsen), a 1980s Texas housewife accused of murder.

Written by debut screenwriter Andrew Buchan, who is best known for his acting roles on Broadchurch, The Honourable Woman and Better, Passenger is another brand new drama that explores a close-knit community who are unwilling to face their fears of change, of outsiders and of the unknown. Set in the fictional small Northern town of Chadder Vale, Former Met Police Detective Riya Ajunwa (BAFTA-winning Wunmi Mosaku) investigates a series of strange and inexplicable crimes that have the townsfolk spinning on an axis.

Archie is a new four-part drama depicting the life of Cary Grant, Hollywood’s greatest leading man, and starring Jason Isaacs in the star role which launches on ITVX later this year.

And The Winter King is a drama set in the fifth century – long before Britain was united, in a brutal land of warring factions and tribes where lives were often fleeting – and follows Arthur Pendragon (Iain De Caestecker) as he evolves from outcast to legendary warrior and leader.

CAUGH*T is a brand new satirical comedy to ITVX, which follows four Australian soldiers sent on a secret mission to a war-torn country. Mistaken for Americans, they are captured by freedom fighters and produce a hostage video that goes viral. The show unapologetically pokes fun at modern celebrity culture, social media and 24-hour news while exploring the often outrageous price of fame with an all-star cast led by Sean Penn.

Big Brother will exclusively be returning to ITV2 and ITVX this Autumn. Footage from the house will be live streamed into the small hours every night on ITVX after the Big Brother companion show.

Rufus Radcliffe, MD of Streaming said:
“To be named Best On Demand Service at the prestigious Edinburgh TV Awards less than nine months since we first launched ITVX, and against such heavyweight competitors in the same category, is such an accolade for the platform and the committed team across ITV behind it.”
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