The increase in viewing figures comes as a much-needed boost to commercial broadcasters, which last year suffered the deepest advertising recession since the financial crisis. The ad slump led to a slowdown in commissioning, while both ITV and Channel 4 have outlined plans to cut hundreds of jobs in a bid to keep a lid on costs.
However, bosses have hailed a recovery in the market in recent weeks amid a broader upswing in the economy.
Channel 4’s streaming service has grown by 7.3bn viewer minutes this year, with overall viewing time hitting a record high of 164bn minutes.
This was driven largely by trusty hits such as Gogglebox, 24 Hours in Police Custody and The Great Celebrity Bake Off.
But the broadcaster also pointed to new releases such as true crime series The Push: Murder On The Cliff and To Catch a Copper, as well as talent show The Piano.
Ian Katz, chief content officer at Channel 4, said: “It’s very gratifying to see a growth in total viewing across our platforms in such a competitive market.
“The wider success of PSBs this year is an encouraging sign of how much audiences value original, quality content that reflects and engages with their lives.”
Meanwhile, ITV enjoyed its biggest ever month in January with 328m streams on the ITVX service. This was driven by Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which racked up 12.4m streaming hours and was the channel’s biggest new drama in over a decade.
Both ITV and the BBC are also set to benefit from the Euros football, though the extent of the boost will be dependent on how far home nations England and Scotland progress in the tournament.