BBC iPlayer development to offer ability to embed BBC content across 3rd party sites - could this open a new BBC revenue stream?

The BBC iPlayer service is continuing to expand by allowing BBC TV content to be embedded on 3rd party sites.

Reported in Marketing 08.07.08, the BBC are planning to develop the BBC iPlayer so that 3rd party sites like blogs and social network profiles can embed BBC clips and entire BBC shows (though sites will be vetted with certain domains blacklisted.)

YouTube benefitted from allowing others to embed YouTube content and the moves to allow a wider distribution of BBC content will see the reach of BBC programming increase. This will empower bloggers and social network users and could strengthen communities around specific niches and interests - being able to embed a particular clip or programme will enhance existing sites and forums.

Moves to allow BBC iPlayer content to be embedded across the internet could also continue the demise of columnists and traditional review pages – especially around TV. This morning the Guardian features a discussion around the extent to which bloggers and free reviews are diminishing the traditional media column inches devoted to critics (http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/visualart) . Whilst the main impact has so far been seen in the US, the article notes that the Telegraph stopped running a TV review in May and regular TV reviews have also gone at the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and the Evening Standard. If full BBC TV programmes are available across the internet, it is not hard to imagine that more TV review sections could be culled in the future – why would you want to read what someone else thought of last nights TV if you embed / watch the full episode in your own social space and discuss it with friends accordingly?

Indeed Social TV is growing as we are witnessing live blogging around certain programmes like The Apprentice (http://www.nickburcher.com/2008/06/apprentice-social-tv-demonstrating-how.html), however, unlike sporting events where the interest peaks around the live event, TV content is still engaging long after the original broadcast. The BBC have experimented with content distribution through MySpace ttp://www.nickburcher.com/2008/01/bbc-worldwide-launch-myspace-tv-channel.html and clips for Doctor Who, Top Gear and other BBC programmes have resulted in BBC Worldwide gaining 22400 MySpace ‘friends’. If this success is replicated on a wider scale then the demand for iPlayer embeds will be significant.

The development of the iPlayer also has the potential to change the BBC funding model and increase the importance of online video advertising. Whilst TV viewers value the fact that the BBC does not run commercial advertising on TV, ads on online video / mobile video are generally more accepted and could become a revenue spinner for the BBC. Against increased budget pressure, could the BBC use the improved iPlayer to monetise BBC content online using video pre-rolls and overlays, whilst maintaining commercial free TV broadcasting?

BBC Sound Index - a great new way of tracking internet music buzz

Music charts have been changing to incorporate downloads, but with Myspace, YouTube and LastFM etc do they really give an accurate picture of what's hot in music?

The BBC are seeking to address this with their new 'BBC Sound Index' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/soundindex). Every six hours the BBC Sound Index "crawls some of the biggest music sites on the internet - Bebo, MySpace, Last.FM, iTunes, Google and YouTube - to find out what people are writing about, listening to, watching, downloading and logging on to. It then counts and analyses this data to make an instant list of the most popular 1000 artists and tracks on the web. The more blog mentions, comments, plays, downloads and profile views an artist or track has, the higher up the Sound Index they are. So, the Sound Index is a music buzz index controlled entirely by the public."

BBC Sound index - top global tracks across all sites crawled

On top of seeing the total picture, it is then possible to filter the BBC Sound Index data to reflect activity on particular sites or activity within different music styles:

BBC Sound index - top UK tracks by views on YouTube

There is also the ability to filter information by age, sex or geographic location (US, UK and 'Other'):

BBC Sound index - top UK artists across all sites crawled


BBC Sound index - top tracks filtered by 'men' across all sites crawled

This BBC Sound Index is currently in Beta mode and over time the BBC aim to enhance the Sound Index by, amongst other things, developing a weighting system, "to allow the more active forms of interaction to contribute more heavily to the Sound Index."

The BBC Sound Index is yet another example of how buzz tracking tools are quickly developing and is the latest in a list of tools that can be used to track buzz and what online communities are saying. With the Sound Index the BBC has stolen a march on others (this could have sat well within Google / Yahoo! etc) and if the Sound Index is promoted / developed properly it could be a major draw to the BBC online music pages. As the Guardian says "don't bet against the enormously usable Sound Index establishing itself as the first definitive music chart for the internet age."

10 great examples of developments in online video

Broadband has wide penetration and ever increasing speeds are changing the way that consumers interact with the internet - from publishing content on social networks through to downloading music and films, broadband has changed the game. Jupiter Research found that the percentage of UK online users watching video grew from 8% in 2006 to 29% last year and a number of developments have led to 2008 being widely predicted to be the 'year of online video.’

Here are 10 great examples of online video:

1) Newspaper publishers branching into video production. In many markets newspaper publishers have started to produce professional video content which is hosted on their website. From AftonbladetTV in Sweden to the successful Telegraph TV initiative in the UK - newspaper website video news / video content has become widespread.

2) It has taken a while, but Google are now going to market with YouTube and selling a variety of packages from branded channels through to MPU's and InVideo Ads. At the same time Google are recruiting prominent publishers to the YouTube network by paying them to upload content. This professionalisation of YouTube will undoubtedly see more advertisers using the site and promoting their YouTube pages / branded channels accordingly - something that will boost YouTube traffic as a result.

3) Online TV on demand - Various UK TV broadcasters have on demand products (itv.com, 4OD, Sky Anytime, Five download) but it is the BBC's iplayer that has really moved things on. Launched at Christmas 2007 it has the strapline 'making the unmissable, unmissable' and allows viewers to watch streamed programmes for 7 days after broadcast or download programmes for view up to 30 days after transmission. Whilst only available in the UK, it has been very successful with 17 million views since launch (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/feb/20/bbc.digitalmedia1). Iplayer has been so successful that it is now taking up a sizeable chunk of UK bandwidth. Some are starting to question whether it should remain free and suggesting that the BBC should take some responsibility in expanding UK bandwidth. This may become even more of an issue when the combined all-channel 'Kangaroo' platform launches later this year, but for now there is no doubting consumer appetite for this kind of service.

4) Video search is improving too and dedicated video Search engines have been established. Blinkx is one of the biggest and “uses a unique combination of patented conceptual search, speech recognition and video analysis software to efficiently, automatically and accurately find and qualify online video” . Reuters have also been exploring Video Search, specifically facial recognition Video Search (http://reuters.viewdle.com/searchm). If a user searches for 'David Beckham' their results will not just be videos tagged with 'David Beckham', but facial recognition technology will serve results of any video that he is featured in - regardless of its tagging.

5) The adoption of Universal Search will also improve video penetration. Google and other Search Engines are working hard to improve their algorithms so that the meaning behind a users Search enquiry can be interpreted and more relevant results shown. Universal Search delivers a blended mixture of text, images and videos and as non-text based results become more common, video results will become more prevalent.

6) Video conversations - video conversations are now commonplace. A user will publish a video and others will post video responses. There are a number of great examples of this in practice. YouTube promoted initiatives like encouraging voters to submit video questions for the Presidential debates and the Davos question (where users were encouraged to submit video questions for world leaders). YouTube also regularly sees spontaneous response videos posted regularly, for example LisaNova leaving a response for the Burger King branded DiddyTV channel. Indeed video blogging and video conversation has become so widespread that new start-ups like Loic Le Meur’s ‘Seesmic ’ are launching around this trend.

8) ITunes syndication - the ability to syndicate content onto itunes as downloadable vodcasts has given publishers and content creators new ways to distribute their work and has encouraged consumers to experiment with portable video devices. Amongst others the BBC and US networks have been selling TV series by the episode and also offering season passes. A number of online video sites are also using itunes as a distribution channel, eg GreenTV who get 20% of their traffic / views as a result of being on itunes.

9) Even with the advent of things like iPlayer and iTunes, a recent analysis of the latest P2P trends wordwide shows that file sharing is still commonplace, with BitTorrent still being the most popular filesharing protocol. BitTorrent traffic continues to increase and is responsible for 50-75% of all P2P traffic and roughly 40% of all Internet traffic. Whilst copyright owners are still trying to pursue filesharers, Bittorrent remains popular – especially with the audiences of Sci-Fi shows like Battlestar Galactica and Lost.

10) Hardware like Slingbox is also changing viewing habits and encouraging consumers to watch video / TV on a computer screen. The Slingbox AV allows users to watch and control their favorite TV source from anywhere in the world on a laptop or cell phone. Programming is recorded on a home box and users can log onto it remotely. Even Dr. Phil is an advocate, giving away Slingboxes to his audience to mark his 1000th show! (http://www.slingmedia.com/get/drphil-freeslingbox.html)

BBC Worldwide launch MySpace TV channel

After the successful launch of the UK based BBC iPlayer, the corporation has today announced that it has launched an international BBC Worldwide MySpace TV channel at http://www.myspace.com/bbcworldwide.

The BBC Worldwide MySpaceTV Channel aims to showcase "the best of British TV." Clips won't just be from Top Gear or Doctor Who, they will be taken from a range of genres including "Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi, Weird and Wonderful, Love Earth, Famous Faces - and Top Gear."

Users can add BBC MySpace TV clips to their MySpace profile, send them to friends and embed clips into their blogs like this :-)

Top Gear: Killing a Toyota

Add to My Profile | More Videos
Good work BBC!