4 Ways BBC iPlayer Changed TV Viewing

The BBC, with its iPlayer video on demand service, has single-handedly managed to change the way that we view television in just a couple of years.

With more than five million unique weekly users - or roughly 8 percent of the UK population, it is by far the most popular of its category - VoD services from mainstream content broadcasters.

Here are four ways it changed the way we, British, interact and consume televised content on an everyday basis.

(1) Viewers are now no longer constrained by the TV guide. They can now consume content when they want to. The fact that in November, BBC programmes were streamed more than 88 million times - that's roughly 2.9 million every day - shows that iPlayer has now become an integral part of some people's lives.

(2) No longer do we need to be in front of our television to watch TV programmes. The fact that iPlayer is first and foremost a web-based service means that it can be accessed everywhere. People watch streamed programmes on their laptops in their beds or as downloads on their mobile phone in the trains.