Digital DNA » BBC

BBC online adopts the “less is more” strategy

David — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:09:50 +0000

The BBC announced today that they are to significantly reduce their online operations by closing 400 Top Line Domains and cutting at least 350 jobs. This is clearly bad news for all those affected, however, I do believe that the principle of doing fewer things better is a sound one. It is sound because it means that finally, the BBC’s online presence is unified under one strategy and it will put a stop to wastage due to vertical silos within BBC Online.

Erik Huggers (Director of Future Media and Technology at the BBC) provides a clear summary of what the unified strategy looks like and what it means for the BBC’s people. Well worth a read.

The main message I take from this is that the BBC needs to focus on the things it does brilliantly in terms of the internet. It shouldn’t be competing with commercial publishers on specialist subject websites – hence the announcement that most programme websites will be created using automated content. It should, however, be making all BBC content (audio and video) available to me (the tax payer) as and when I want it, on any device I choose. That would make the licence fee worthwhile.

With that in mind, it is good to read that a key part of the strategy is to focus on enhancing the iPlayer to include more relevant content (e.g. news & comment) and offer users the ability to personalise the service to match their taste. In my mind that means the BBC will look to connect me to the BBC content I will like at the right time, place and on the best device. Can’t wait!

Young adults watching online video at “near-universal levels”

David — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:39:41 +0000

The rise of online video services has been fascinating to watch. Especially over the last 6 months. Even though video sharing sites like YouTube have lead video consumption online, it is actually the “quality” end of the market (dominated by Hulu in the US and BBC iPlayer in the UK) that has further fueled this growth.

Recent research (by Pew) has found that video watching is nearing epidemic levels among the younger age groups – 9 in 10 internet users in the age bracket 18-29 watch content on video sites. And 1 in every 3 watches video content every day.

The interesting stat I found in this report was that amongst those who watch TV shows or movies online, 23% of them have hooked their computer up to a TV. It is video content that is leading the fabled living room convergence. Make no mistake.

Glasto hits online maturity

David — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:49:37 +0000

Glatonbury mud festival

Glastonbury was four times bigger in 2009 than in 2008… well, in digital terms, anyway.

The BBC festival website managed a record of 7.2 million video streams and the red button coverage on digital TV attracted over 6.1 million viewers over the weekend. Lady Gaga was by far the biggest act online – attracting 1.3 million streams compared to last year’s top act Jay Z who attracted just 119,000 streams…

So, why the increased interest compared to 2008? It’s not like there are 4x more people online, surely? It could be because they had three webcams placed around the site giving visitors a chance to watch from different angles. Even though that was cool, I think that the increase has more to do with the fact that the iPlayer has become even more prevalent in our everyday lives over the last 12 months.