The popularity of BBC's iPlayer continues to grow, with more than 42 million programmes accessed in the three months since its launch, confirming the huge success it had had in its first two weeks of existence.

The iPlayer's number of downloads and streams of BBC programmes rose 25% month on month to 17.2 million in March, up from 14 million in February and 11.2 million in January.

The most successful programmes included popular shows such as 'The Apprentice', 'Gavin and Stacey' and 'Torchwood'.

"Its initial performance proves the case not only for the BBC iPlayer, but for all video-on-demand services over the internet, and benefits both our audiences and the industry as a whole," said Ashley Highfield, BBC director of Future Media and Technology.

"We continue to work closely with the internet service providers with a view to driving the next generation of broadband internet access."

The success of traditional programmes on the iPlayer confirms recent comments by BBC News Interactive chief Pete Clifton at the International Symposium on Online Journalism, which featured various editors' views on the rise of online news video.

The iPlayer has been so successful that Internet service providers are actually complaining that the service is overloading their servers. The iPlayer is currently being tested for an upcoming launch and the Nintendo Wii video game console.

Source: Brand Republic