The BBC said there were 41 million requests for television and radio programmes from tablets, compared to 40 million from smartphones and other small screen mobile devices such as iPods.

“It’s a huge moment for us,” said Dave Price, the head of BBC iPlayer. “Whether it’s in bed, in the bath or on the train, tablets have opened up use cases for iPlayer that just weren’t there before.”

According to Ofcom’s latest figures, 58 per cent of the population have a smartphone. Just 19 per cent who own a tablet according to the regulator’s research. This makes the figures even more impressive.

Together, tablets and smartphones accounted for 30 per cent of iPlayer usage.

In total the iPlayer received 272 million requests for programmes in March, the same as January. The first month of the year is usually busy as Britons stay indoors and catch up with Christmas specials, but the extended freezing weather year seems to have played a role in keeping online viewing up well into 2013.

Clearly the future viewing habits are changing and hence why the BBC is going to launch programmes in the future first on the BBC iPlayer rather than through the traditional TV.