Typical iPlayer user revealed

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The average iPlayer user is a 40-year-old man with a girlfriend but no children, BBC research has revealed.

A survey of 2,027 UK adults found that the typical user has a full time job and uses the on-demand service to watch BBC content on his desktop PC in the evenings.

He usually goes there seeking out particular programmes and tends to watch them alone, although he will sometimes view them with his partner.

The typical user first started using the iPlayer after missing a specific programme and now is sometimes happy to miss a programme when it is broadcast on TV, knowing it can be viewed later.

However, despite the profile of the average user, the research found that just a quarter of iPlayer users are aged between 35 and 44, and that the age profile of users is in line with the age profile of broadband users.

Anthony Rose, head of digital media, BBC future media and technology, said: "We were really happy to find that older people, as well as younger ones, are using BBC iPlayer.

"We're not just attracting the stereotypical younger early-adopters who will generally pick up on new technologies and gadgets before the mainstream."

The study also found that 44% (901) of respondents had used the iPlayer at some point, and of those just 13% had only used it once. Some 17% of iPlayer users have watched more than 20 programmes on the service.

Just over half of users (51%) always access iPlayer on a desktop PC and nearly a fifth (18%) have linked their computer to a TV screen on at least one occasion in the past.

"Mr Average" has previously tried to download programmes so that he can watch them in better quality, but is generally too impatient to wait. He also wishes the seven-day window for streaming programmes would be extended, although is very happy with the iPlayer interface.

He does not have the iPlayer linked up to his TV and has never used it on a portable device or the Wii.