iPlayer booms for the BBC

After living abroad for four months out of the last six, I realized how quickly I’d come to depend on high-quality TV on-demand and online through the BBC’s innovative iPlayer. Although iPlayer is only six months old, it’s already become a massive success for the BBC’s recently renamed Future Media & Technology division. Other on-demand online TV services do exist – 4OD, Virgin on Demand and itv.com – but the iPlayer now defines the category.

Unlike its rivals, the iPlayer became a stunning success almost overnight. Since its launch on Christmas Day 2007, 42 million programmes were accessed on iPlayer between January and March 2008. According to The Guardian (30.04.08), in April the iPlayer accounted for about 5% of all internet traffic in the UK, with viewers watching over a million programmes a week.  The iPlayer has been so successful that internet service providers are now complaining that the increased demand has overwhelmed their broadband systems and that the BBC should help to cover the cost of upgrades.

So why is the iPlayer so good? Firstly, it’s easy to use, with an intuitive interface and logical organisation. Secondly, it’s widely available. If you are in the UK and connected to the internet you can stream programmes on Windows, Mac and Linux computers, as well as on Nintendo Wii, iPod Touch and iPhones, with availability increasing all the time. Thirdly, the iPlayer is always being improved in response to audience feedback. Only six months after its introduction, the BBC launched a new beta version which updated the iPlayer’s main features and, more importantly, fully integrated the existing Radio Player into the iPlayer so that TV and radio content are now in the same place. There are already plans to expand iPlayer internationally and to make the whole BBC archive available online.

The most important factor here is that the iPlayer shows the BBC returning to its basic brand principles – free, high-quality, authoritative programming – and reinterpreting its services in the digital age. By understanding that customers now want to choose when, where and how we watch television – on the commute, in the bath, on an iPhone – the BBC has escaped being pigeonholed as 'the box in the corner of the living-room' and has invented an essential tool to keep it relevant and popular. Some viewers are now claiming that they will ditch the TV for good, relying on iPlayer to deliver their programmes on-demand. One thing is certain: after only six months, the iPlayer has already become the undisputed leader in the category of on-demand TV and radio. It can now 'inform, educate and entertain' whenever, however and wherever the customer wants.

22 August 2008, posted by Alexandra Gowlland