BBC's iPlayer: A Success Story

Sydney.
The next speaker at the Australasian Media & Broadcasting Congress 2008 is Tiffany Hall, Technology Controller of Nations & Regions at the BBC. She's focussing on the experience of rolling out the BBC iPlayer, an on-demand TV catch-up service (similar to the ABC's iView); programmes can be streamed or downloaded, and the service is funded by UK television licence funding (which is why content at present is not available outside the UK - unless you use an anonymiser proxy with a UK IP address). The player also contains parental guidance features (as timeshifting undermines the more conventional scheduling of differently rated programmes at different times of the day). iPlayer streams at 800kbps, with sound at 250kbps, and there are further moves to maximise the picture quality. About 80% of users use Windows, about 20% Macs, and only around 1% Linux; the player is now also available on the Nintendo Wii and on the Virgin platform.

A key driver of developing this player was the new emphasis on broadband in building a digital Britain. The player started as the Interactive Media Player (iMP) in 2005, with a 5000-user public test during 2006. Under the BBC Charter, it had to prove its public value, and in April 2007 the BBC Trust approved the project's rollout; after a further public beta phase it was launched officially on Christmas Day 2007. This year, the TV iPlayer was launched on Virgin.

The philosophy behind the player is '7-30-7' (content is available for seven days after broadcast, can be played for 30 days after download, and there is a grace period for 7 days to finish watching), in order to protect both licence holders and subsequent DVD sales. Licencing content was very difficult, but the success of the iPlayer with the public helped. There was also quite a bit of cross-trading support to market the player, and a very funny viral video promotion campaign featuring flying penguins on YouTube and other sites. (The making of the viral video was itself screened on the iPlayer.) At present, the iPlayer is not allowed to launch new content without it having been broadcast on television first.

Things to be ready for in launching such a player are the 'metadata mindset' (the fact that metadata is crucial in allowing programmes to be discovered by users and search engines), clearing rights, delivering to different devices (and taking into account the specific technological features and contexts of use for such devices - sit back vs. lean forward, handheld vs. stationary), and the potential that technologists themselves can (and should) be creative.

Take-up of the iPlayer has been strong and growing. As of September 2008, some 23 million shows are being served per month, with over 750,000 daily requests - at its peak times, the iPlayer accounts for 5% of the UK's total Internet traffic; in this it is interesting how player access peaks around specific shows (iPlayer is the Top Gear player the day after new episodes screen). Access is strong in the afternoon and evening - similar to TV use - but also stronger during the day than TV (mirroring wider Internet usage patterns); typical users are male and in their 40s who can't be bothered downloading and nearly always stream, but there are also substantial user numbers especially in younger demographics. The iPlayer has made users feel more positive about the BBC.

There is a new childrens' site, CBBC, being launched soon, and the iPlayer is likely to be embedded into other sites (outside the BBC) as well. A social dimension is likely to be added soon - chat with friends functionality is going to be added (and this already happens outside of the player, as people Twitter about their iPlayer viewing, for example. Tiffany now shows a mock-up of what this may look like - somewhat similar to chat functions on Justin.tv. So, Tiffany closes with the formula that "last year, the BBC decided what to watch, this year, you decide, and next year, your friends will decide what you watch".

In comments, we also hear that there will be a commercial, world-wide iPlayer incorporating content from the BBC's competitors to be launched in addition to the BBC's own iPlayer.

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