Portable Planet

There’s going to be much more BBC content on YouTube now.  Well…officially sanctioned content, anyhow.  Naturally, advertising is going to ensue as well.

The BBC, BBC Worldwide and YouTube today announced the beginning of a partnership to offer Internet users across the world new and innovative ways to experience and enjoy BBC content through YouTube.

This non-exclusive partnership will create branded BBC “Channels” on YouTube operating under separate BBC and BBC Worldwide agreements. The partnership reflects YouTube’s commitment to work with content owners to make compelling video accessible online, and the BBC’s commitment to increase reach through the partnership, to bring new audiences to the proposed BBC iPlayer service, and to secure commercial revenue via BBC Worldwide, its commercial subsidiary, to supplement the licence fee.

The partnership, which will build over time, comprises three elements:

From the BBC: Clips of new shows and specially commissioned promotional content linked to popular series such as Doctor Who and Life on Mars. At launch, the YouTube community will be able to enjoy a range of specially-created video diaries including David Tennant and Freema Agyeman, who’ll take viewers around the set of Doctor Who; John Simm going back in time for Life on Mars; and Clive Myrie on the streets of the red zone of Baghdad

From BBC Worldwide: An entertainment Channel called “BBC Worldwide” showing clips from material such as Top Gear, Spooks, The Catherine Tate Show, The Mighty Boosh and a range of factual programmes including those presented by David Attenborough. The Channel will include a limited amount of advertising.

From BBC World, the BBC’s international commercial television channel: Around 30 news clips per day will be offered, with up-to-the-minute news and analysis from around the world. The advertising-funded clips will be available to users outside the UK only.

Users will be able to comment on clips, rate them, recommend them to friends and post their own video responses to communicate with the BBC and other viewers.

Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC, said: “This ground-breaking partnership between the BBC and YouTube is fantastic news for our audiences. YouTube is a key gateway through which to engage new audiences in the UK and abroad.

“The partnership provides both a creative outlet for a range of short-form content from BBC programme makers and the opportunity to learn about new forms of audience behaviour. It’s essential that the BBC embraces new ways of reaching wider audiences with non-exclusive partnerships such as these.”

Eric Schmidt, CEO and Chairman of Google, said: “We’re delighted to be joining forces with the BBC to bring the best TV programming available to the YouTube community. We will continue to invest in our platforms and technologies to help our partners make the most of the enormous opportunities presented by the billion people now online.”

Chad Hurley, CEO and Co-Founder of YouTube, said: “We’re constantly looking for innovative ways to bring the best content to our community. The BBC is a premier source for quality programming, and we’re excited that they are leading the way in enabling two-way dialogue and real engagement with an entirely new audience. We hope to open up an entirely new audience for their content, while deepening their relationship with their existing viewers.”

Benefits

The non-exclusive partnership reflects the BBC’s commitment to reach audiences in new ways. The aim is to offer audiences a taste of BBC programming with clips which will (subject to the conclusion of the ongoing PVT process) link them to the BBC’s proposed iPlayer service on bbc.co.uk. For BBC Worldwide the partnership forms part of a strategy to bring great British content to new audiences around the world through its global TV channels and its proposed new digital businesses - the commercial iPlayer and the commercialisation of international traffic to bbc.co.uk. Increasing levels of funds will be returned to the BBC for investment in new programming.

Clips on BBC News (available to users outside the UK only) and “BBC Worldwide” will benefit from Google and YouTube’s advertising platforms, generating new revenues for investment in BBC programme development and creation. Advertising will be governed by a comprehensive set of guidelines.