The premiere of Doctor Who on iView over the weekend broke all kinds of records for the ABC, with 79,900 plays recorded on Sunday. That’s the highest number of plays for any show in the history of the iView platform, and the ABC has said that it definitely will keep putting the episodes online a week ahead of terrestrial broadcasts for the rest of the season.
MORE: Counterpoint — Why Who On iView Won’t Stop People Pirating
The ABC had originally planned to air the seventh season of Doctor Who on ABC1, one week behind the BBC premiere in the UK.
Days later, the ABC announced it would carry the premiere at 5:10am AEST on Sunday morning — one hour after the show finished airing in the UK. A tremendous effort that paid off for Aunty.
The ABC tells us this morning, as record traffic rains down on iView, Doctor Who definitely will be carried on iView a week ahead of the ABC1 terrestrial broadcasts going forward.
ABC says of the show:
We will continue to make this series of Doctor Who available on iview each Sunday at 5.10am — immediately after the BBC UK transmission. Episodes will be available for 14 days.
That’s great news for both Whovians and television junkies who are hoping that this new move to priorities digital could solve the problem of availability.
Hopefully the viewing numbers stay high enough to make the rest of the industry sit up and take notice of online exclusives.
What did you think of the Doctor Who premiere? Be advised: SPOILERS AHEAD.