More than 17 million TV programmes were downloaded or streamed on the BBC iPlayer service during its first seven weeks of operation.

Over 2.2 million people used the on-demand media player during the first month of 2008, watching a total of 11 million shows, according to the broadcaster.

Usage figures have been growing during January and February, and last week the number of streams and downloads accessed in a single day surpassed half a million for the first time.

The growing popularity of the service has helped to push up the number of visitors to the bbc.co.uk web site, says the BBC. A weekly average of 20 million UK users accessed the site throughout January, an increase of 29 per cent from the same period of 2007.

"While it is still early days, indications are that iPlayer is having a significant effect in attracting new users to bbc.co.uk," said BBC future media and technology director Ashley Highfield.

"To build on this initial success, we continue to reach out to audiences wherever they are, and we now have BBC-branded channels on Yahoo and partnerships with MSN and Blinkx going live soon."

The BBC is planning to revise the iPlayer homepage with programme recommendations and improved navigation options, said Highfield.