Market Context
THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW...
Since 1922 the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been
producing content for radio, television and most recently, the internet.
Its Public Service status defines the brand’s unique identity within
the marketplace. Unlike its commercial competitors the BBC funds its
services through a licence-paying scheme.
As well as offering support to its successful television and radio
operations, BBC websites have become destinations in their own
right offering innovative, distinctive and accessible content.
In terms of unique audience bbc.co.uk currently ranks sixth in the
UK behind Google, MSN, Microsoft,Yahoo! and eBay (Source: Nielsen
Netview – UK home panel aged 2+ May 2005).
bbc.co.uk started life as far back as 1994
when the BBC launched its first programmerelated website under the guise of
The Networking Club.
bbc.co.uk runs a separate network called
backstage.bbc.co.uk aimed at the developer
community.The aim of the site is to foster new
talent and encourage innovation. It offers content
feeds from bbc.co.uk and allows developers to
use the material, on a non-commercial basis,
to build their own applications and services,
which can then be showcased on the site.
Achievements
Since its official launch in 1997, bbc.co.uk has dramatically expanded
both its breadth of content and its reach to the UK population. It now
contains over two million pages of news, sports coverage, music,
science, technology and entertainment – making it the largest content
site in Europe.
In the latest ABCe audit, conducted in September 2004, bbc.co.uk
registered 44.8 million unique users and in June 2005 reached over half
of all UK internet users (aged 15+) for the first time, with 12.9 million
users (51%) out of a total internet universe of 25.6 million (Source:
BBC/British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) 2005).
In 2005 the remit for bbc.co.uk was redrawn to provide stronger
direction and tighter boundaries, and to ensure a clearer focus for
delivering the BBC’s public purposes.
Personality and Goals
As a Public Service brand bbc.co.uk has an obligation to increase accessibility in emerging
technologies. Its brand values are inclusive, stimulating and entertaining, with a quintessentially
British personality that is articulate, informed, trustworthy and educational.
The increasing take up of broadband access means that, now more than ever, the BBC
can make its traditional output available in new ways; delivering compelling audio-visual
content through the internet directly to its audiences. From September 2005, the BBC will
trial the integrated Media Player (iMP) to a limited audience of 5,000 volunteers. iMP offers
audiences the chance to catch up on the BBC’s TV or Radio programmes for up to seven
days after they have been transmitted, making programmes available whenever and
wherever people want them.
In the coming year, bbc.co.uk will continue its work in opening up the internet to new users
– particularly older people – and in providing safe content and guidance for young users.
www.bbc.co.uk
service, already a successful website, is now available via mobiles, and
the popular Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy site was developed into
a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) service.
One of the BBC’s online aspirations is to act as a trusted guide to
the internet and bbc.co.uk has done worthwhile work to develop
safe ways for children to explore it. CBBC Search is a family-friendly
search tool that lets children search content from the CBBC website,
a selection of other BBC sites and external children’s websites preapproved by the BBC.
Products and Services
While the BBC has helped drive internet take up with
its high-quality content, bbc.co.uk is continually developing
new ways for audiences to discover and enjoy this material.
For instance, the websites for BBC News and BBC Sport
have recently introduced Really Simple Syndication
(RSS), a facility that allows users to take feeds of the
BBC’s own content and use it on their own sites.
Valuable work has been done to extend bbc.co.uk
services to mobile phones: the GCSE Bitesize Revision
HISTORY
1994 – The BBC begins to
experiment with the worldwide
web, publishing a selection of
programme-related content sites.
1997 – BBC Online
launches trial service
providing a range of
programme-related sites.
1998 – Consent
is granted from the
Secretary of State for
BBC Online.
30
1999 – BBC Online
introduces a category system,
allowing users to find content
around their interests.
2000 – BBC Online
joins with interactive TV
to form the New Media
division of the BBC.
2001
– BBC Online and
interactive TV services
change to BBCi.
2002 – BBCi introduces its first search
engine and a unique facility called
Radioplayer, enabling users to catch up on
radio programmes already broadcast.
2003 – iCan
launches, offering a
unique interactive
community.
31
2004 – BBCi changes to
bbc.co.uk after research suggests
the BBCi brand is associated with
interactive television.
2005 – Series of pilot schemes
introduced to further increase
accessibility including: RSS Feeds,
Backstage and iMP Public trial.