BBC’s iPlayer is a leader in cord cutting content service; it’s an Internet-based TV and radio service that serves its content to those in the UK. The iPlayer just recorded its best ever month, reaching new highs for both requests and plays. Over the month, requests for TV and radio content rose to 320 million, breaking the old high of 315 million recorded in January. It’s an 18% year over year increase on content requests, signaling the burgeoning desire to stream content over the Internet rather than over cable. This is corroborated by looking at TV request data more specifically, which to rose to 248 million requests over the month, topping January’s record of 242 million requests. The top performing show? Top Gear, followed by The Voice. The data continue to point to the fact that people want specific content on their own schedules, over the Internet.
Tag: BBC
BBC Experiments With Instagram Video
Instafax is a new program launched by the BBC to bring Instagram video-length news updates to its subscribers. The idea is that three fifteen second videos will be published at different points during the day to highlight different news stories during different parts of the day.
The service, a reference to the short-form Ceefax news service, also mimics other forms of condensed news services, like NowThis News, who has been creating Vines, Snapchats, Twitter videos, and Facebook Videos of the news for some time now. The BBC clearly feels that it’s time to break into this space to build its news and brand on social media as opposed to traditional news forms. Whether it actually proves an advantageous move for the storied news network will likely depend on how sharable the snippets become. But if it does prove a shrewd move, expect to see more of this in the near future.
BBC & Twitter Reach Embedding Agreement
The BBC agreed to a deal with Twitter that means that it’s Twitter stream will now feature embedded video clips – complete with pre-roll ads. It’s an announcement that continue’s Twitter’s attempts to justify it’s financial worth via network partnerships and advertising nous in advance of its IPO. It’s unclear what metrics will be used for the now-far-reaching ad platform, or how it will be monetized – let alone how it will be received by tweeters worldwide. These are big questions that the company will need to answer in the coming weeks before it goes public.
