Cracking start for BBC Three initiative

BBC Three’s policy of premiering its comedy online before its TV broadcast seems to have paid dividends for Jack Whitehall’s sitcom Bad Education.

The first episode was viewed 1.5million times on iPlayer in the seven days before it aired on TV last night.

That seems to have had negligible effect on the broadcast ratings. Overnight figures show last night’s episode was seen by 832,000 viewers – down on the 986,000 who tuned in to the opening of the first series last year, but a higher audience share (4.6 per cent, up from 4.3 per cent last series).

BBC Three controller Zai Bennett said: ‘I couldn’t be more thrilled with the reception... Giving our viewers more choice in the way they enjoy programmes is a really important initiative on BBC Three.’

The BBC is experimenting with more online content. As well as the BBC Three comedy initiative, Peter Kay’s forthcoming Car Share is to premiere on iPlayer before its TV debut. And last month, BBC Three launched its latest batch of Comedy Feeds exclusively online.

Published: 4 Sep 2013