BBC's Blog, page 6

BBC Online Briefing: Understanding Audiences at the BBC

At the BBC Online Winter Briefing, Carmen Aitken, Head of Audiences for BBC Future Media, and I presented some of our latest findings into our audiences.

In the video below, we look at how the four screen environment is changing how people consume content and look towards the next ten years. We also make the point that while technology changes quickly, people don’t and we’re still likely to have the same needs and interests in future as we do now.

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Simon Kendrick and Carmen Aitken present some insights into digital audiences.

Simon Kendrick is Research Manager, Audiences, BBC Future Media

What's on BBC Red Button - 14-20 December

There are special festive treats and highlights from a great year of music and sport on the Red Button this week. Watch exclusive Christmas episodes from Casualty and Radio 1 and enjoy fun for all the family with CBBC and CBeebies extras. Plus, don’t miss red carpet coverage and the big reveal from Sports Personality of the Year 2013.

 

Casualty Special

Casualty Special

After a heavy night of Christmas celebrating Noel is convinced he’s seen a reindeer in the lounge while Big Mac spies an elf in the bathroom - how on earth did they get there? Press red after Casualty to find out or watch the special episode again on Friday.

Sat 14th December, 9:50pm-1:10am
Fri 20th December, 9:00pm-4:00am

 

Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special

Live from the Strictly Grand Final, join Zoe Ball after the glitter comes down for the first interview with all three runners-up before congratulating this year's champions.

Sat 21st December, 9:45pm-1:05am

 

Radio 1’s Live Lounge Christmas Show

Fearne Cotton presents Radio 1’s Live Lounge Christmas show including two Live Lounge specials, Innuendo Bingo and lots more festive fun.

Thu 19th December, 10:00am-3:00pm
Fri 20th December, 10:00am-1:00pm

 

CBBC Extra Christmas Cracker

Christmas has come early this year with CBBC Extra. Hacker and Dodge serve up a Christmas cracker jam packed with exclusive goodies from your favourite CBBC shows. Chris joins the cast of the 4 O’Clock Club for a look behind the scenes of their Christmas special episode, he and Hacker go in search of Father Christmas in Lapland and we give you an access all areas look at the filming of the CBBC Christmas song. Want to know what the CBBC gang are looking forward to this Christmas? Press red to find out!

Mon 16th December, 7:00am-7:30pm
Tue 17th December, 7:00am-7:40pm
Wed 18th December, 7:00am-7:30pm
Thu 19th December, 7:00am-10:00am
Fri 20th December, 7:00am-10:00am, 1:00pm-7:00pm

 

CBeebies Christmas Karaoke

It may be cold outside but the CBeebies Christmas Karaoke is the perfect way to stay warm and cosy over the festive season. Sing along to a mixture of well-known Christmas songs and some brand new CBeebies numbers. Simply follow the words along the bottom of the screen and look out for some special Christmas messages from your favourite CBeebies stars along the way.

Sat 21st December, 6:00am-2:30pm  

 

Sport highlights this week

Celebrate a year of trophies and triumphs with the 60th BBC Sport Personality of the Year. Watch the pre-show build-up as the year’s sporting heroes arrive on the red carpet then find out who has been chosen as 2013’s winner.

Plus, catch up on the latest football action with Final Score and the Football League Show and follow Blues v Osprey from Scrum V on Friday. If you’re still after more, there’s coverage from the Ski Cross World Cup, the World Taekwondo Grand Prix and the Equestrian World Cup to choose from.

For a full list and times of sport coverage on the Red Button see the BBC Sport website. 

BBC Online Briefing: World War One Centenary

Last week at the BBC Online Briefing I looked ahead to 2014 and the launch of an amazing season of programmes and content marking 100 years since the start of World War One.

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Tim Plyming outlines some BBC ideas for digital content for the World War 1 season

We know that our audiences will have lots of questions about how the First World War started, how it was fought both on the Western Front and the Home Fronts and the legacy it left.

I shared some details of a comprehensive digital offer which will sit at the heart of the BBC’s World War One season – allowing audiences to take their own journey of discover through the War and its consequences.

Tim Plyming is Executive Producer, History and Science online including WW1 Centenary

BBC Sports App on Larger Tablets

Hello, I’m Ryan Thomas Hewitt – Business Analyst for the BBC Sport apps.

Today we’re excited to announce that the BBC Sport apps now support larger tablets, including the iPad , Android tablets over 7” and Kindle Fire 8.9" devices.

BBC Sport app on larger tablets

When we first launched the apps almost one year ago, we focused on developing an experience for smartphones (iOS and Android) that could also be used on smaller tablets (Android and Kindle Fire 7” devices).These devices are typically used on-the-go, which was where the greatest audience need for a BBC Sport app lay.

For example, at the time of launch, mobile accounted for a third of BBC Sport’s total traffic, rising to over 40% at weekends and peaked at 45% on Saturday afternoons, as users accessed live scores and results while out and about.

For larger Android tablets and iPads, the recommendation was to access content via the BBC Sport website as it looks great on larger screens.

BBC Sport app on mobiles

Since then, the market for tablet devices has grown significantly and the number of people accessing BBC Sport content via tablets has increased – now making up 16% of total BBC Sport traffic, up from 10% a year ago.

It also became clear from user feedback (via email , app reviews, Twitter etc) that people wanted the same ‘native’ functionality they enjoyed in the smartphone app, on their larger tablets.

As a result, we’ve decided to optimise and scale up the BBC Sport app for this growing number of tablet users. This allows them to benefit from the native Quick Links customisation and a range of other features we’ve added over the last few months, including:

- The ability to add your favourite football teams & sports to the Quick Links section

- Native playback of BBC Radio 5 live and 5 live sports extra

- iOS 7 and Android KitKat support

And with a packed calendar of live sport ahead of us in 2014, we have plans to introduce even more native features. As ever, I'm keen to get your feedback on the app and hear what features you would like to see on mobile and tablets in future so please leave a comment.

Ryan Thomas Hewitt is a Business Analyst in News and Knowledge, BBC Future Media

Related links

BBC Sport – iPhone/iPad app

BBC Sport – Android app

BBC Sport – Kindle Fire app

BBC Online Briefing Christmas 2013: Keynote

I enjoyed meeting our external partners and suppliers at the BBC Online briefing last week. Below is the video of the speech I gave to kick off the day, which offers some insights into the challenges the coming year will bring.

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Ralph's thoughts on Where Next? for the BBC

Ralph Rivera is Director, BBC Future Media

Future Media Standards and Guidelines Website Refresh

If you’re a third party developer who builds services for the BBC it’s likely you will have used the Future Media and Standards And Guidelines website. The site is the home for the BBC’s technical and accessibility standards for web development.

Today Standards and Guidelines has changed. We’ve removed a dozen guidelines that were out-of-date, cross-linked much of the design information to its sister site www.bbc.co.uk/gel, changed the colour and font of the site to bring it more in line with GEL and removed some broken links.

The home page of the refreshed site

Standards and Guidelines is currently built on flat html. The next phase of its redevelopment will be to bring it onto the BBC’s content management system iSite. We’re looking for input both from internal and external developers on suggestions for improvement and the results should be a better looking and simpler Standards and Guidelines launching in spring 2014.

In the meantime if you use Standards and Guidelines and you spot something we’ve missed, please do leave a comment.

Jonathan Murphy is a Senior Editorial Deveelopment Manager in BBC Future Media

Connected Studio: Unlocking the BBC's News Archive

Hi I’m Peter Rippon, Editor of the BBC Online Archive.

We are holding a Connected Studio event in January to explore the best ways to unlock, and allow our audiences to explore, what is often seen as the BBC’s greatest untapped resource, its vast archives. The event will focus specifically on the News archive. It is being held jointly in London and Belfast.

The News archive is a unique video, audio and scripted account of how the BBC has reported the world since 1924. Journalists like me believe we can combine the archive and digital technology to create new and powerful forms of public service storytelling. We can connect the archive to events happening now, and to News being consumed today, in a way that audiences routinely see the world with more knowledge, understanding and sense of their place in it. We can also harness the emotional power of archive to connect with audiences on a much more profound level. It is inherently very social and shareable.

The News archive is a unique account of how the BBC has reported the world since 1924

But how do we do it? It is a fascinating technical, UX and creative challenge. We can’t just digitise everything and hope people consume it. We need to do it in a way that allows us to create fantastic experiences and tell compelling stories, with all the surprise, revelation and delight we can.

We have set out the challenge in more detail in an Innovation Brief(PDF). If you think you can help get in touch. Connected Studio is open to a wide variety of Digital agencies, freelancers and Start-ups with a focus on creative or technical and whether you've worked with the BBC previously or not doesn’t matter.

The Creative challenge is:

1. Memory lane

We know that nostalgia drives discovery. It starts with a photograph, or one of those ‘do you remember….’ conversations. How could we tap into memories and help audiences to renew or build their own version of how it used to be?

2. The bigger picture

If you were a content maker or journalist with access to a digitised news archive, how would you want to present it? In what ways could we use archive content to give audiences a more complete view of the story?

3. An invisible line

Everything that happens today is connected to previous events, and to people who may have made the news at some point in the past. What digital approach can we offer to present that news from the past in a way that connects to now?

4. Know thyself

How can the BBC’s view of events that happened in the past help me to understand where I’m from? What were people in my area doing 50 years ago? What was happening when I was a kid? How can we deliver archive content so that it ‘contextualises’ life?

5. Serendipity

We don’t necessarily know what we’re interested in until we start looking around, following unanticipated links or connections, and enjoying the unexpected along the way. How could we feed this rich content into those places where people search and share?

Peter Rippon is Editor of the BBC Online Archive

What’s on BBC Red Button – 7 – 13 December

This week the Red Button brings
music to your ears! Highlights include this year’s best Radio 1 Live Lounge
sessions as well as outstanding musical moments from the Asian
Network. Also don’t miss pop legend Gary Barlow as he performs live in concert
for Radio 2.

 

Radio 2 in Concert – Gary Barlow

Gary Barlow

Join Take That star Gary Barlow
at the BBC Radio Theatre in London as he plays a collection of classic hits and
new material. Watch the show live on Wednesday 11th December, but
don’t worry if you miss it, you can also catch it again from Thursday 12th.

 

Wed 11th December, 7:55pm-9:30pm

Thu 12th December, 6:55pm-6am

Fri 13th December, 6am-6:30pm

Fri 13th December, 9pm-2am

 

Radio 1 Live Lounge

Ellie Goulding

Relive highlights
from some of the best sessions from 2013. Sit back, relax and enjoy stunning
performances from top acts such as Ellie Goulding, Miley Cyrus and John Newman.

 

Mon 9th December, 12pm-3pm

Mon 9th December, 6pm-9:30pm

Tue 10th December, 12pm-3pm

Tue 10th December, 6pm-9:30pm

Wed 11th December, 12pm-3pm

Wed 11th December, 6pm-7:55pm

Thu 12th December, 12pm-6:55pm

Sat 14th December, 2am-6am

 

Asian Network Rewind

Join BBC
Asian Network as
they count down the Top 10 outstanding moments in Asian Music from 2013.
Presenters Noreen Khan and Tommy Sandhu celebrate and relive the highlights.
Make sure you tweet with #RedButtonRewind

 

Sat 7th December, 1pm-2:30pm

Sat 7th December, 6pm-12:25am

Sun 8th December, 12pm-6pm

Mon 9th December, 4am-6am

Mon 9th December, 6am-12pm

Mon 9th December, 3pm-6pm

Mon 9th December, 9:30pm-6am

Tue 10th December, 6am-12pm

Tue 10th December, 3pm-6pm

Tue 10th December, 9:30pm-6am

Wed 11th December, 6am-12pm

Wed 11th December, 3pm-6pm

Wed 11th December, 9:30pm-6am

Thu 12th December, 6am-12pm

 

Sport this week

Catch goals galore with the Football League Show from Sunday morning at 12:25am and keep up to date with the
latest scores across the country with Final Score on Saturday at 2.30pm.

Finally, watch the best in martial arts as the Taekwondo
Grand Prix hits Manchester - live on the Red Button from 6.30pm on Friday 13th.

 

For a full list and times
of sport coverage on Red Button see the BBC Sport website. 

 

 

BBC Four’s Blues Collection

Don’t miss the last chance to enjoy a
collection of archive performances that delve into the world of American Blues
Music. Immerse yourself in well-known performers such as B.B. King, Blind John
Davis and Booker White, but also lesser known artists travelling the American
music circuit in the 1970s.

More performances, including Muddy Waters,
Billie Holiday and Sonny Boy Williamson are available in the BBC
Four Blues Collection.

 

Sun 8th December, 7pm-4am

 

All details correct at the time
of publication

Please note times are subject to
change. 

Keep up with all the latest news by following
us on Twitter @BBCRedButton

BBC Online Briefing: December 2013

Hello, I’m Jane Weedon and I lead the Business Development team in BBC Future Media.

This afternoon we’re hosting our fifth Online Industry Briefing at the historic Radio Theatre in London W1. These sessions are an opportunity for a number of our digital partners and suppliers to get together and share some ideas about the BBC’s digital strategy. Today’s event is already at capacity but all of the presentations will be available online on this blog from next week. You can also follow us during the sessions via the Internet blog's twitter account and the hashtag #bbconline. 

The aim of this afternoon’s event is to share some of the plans we’ve put together in answer to the question “Where next?” for the BBC’s digital services. As the BBC’s DG said in his speech in October announcing the results of the BBC’s Strategy Review, we’re putting digital at the centre of everything we do.

Where next for the BBC?

Today’s event will look at some of the things we’re doing to put that vision into effect, including a first look at how digital will be delivering the key moments from the BBC’s four year season commemorating the centenary of WW1.  

I’m also really pleased that we’re able to share the results of some new research into how digital is changing and shaping audience behaviour. There’ll also be an update on the work we’re doing with the UK’s digital media industry to deliver innovation at scale via our Connected Studio initiative.

The afternoon will end with Ralph and me taking questions from the floor – if you’d like to propose a question via the blog please use the comments section below. If you’re a supplier or partner to the BBC and would like to be notified of future commercial opportunities and other industry briefing events please make sure your company is registered in our supplier database.

And remember to check back here next week for video of the presentations.

Jane Weedon is Director, Business Development, BBC Future Media

What's on BBC Red Button November 30 - December 6

Coming up in this week we have all the action from the UK Snooker Championships from York as well as highlights from the BBC Four Blues Collection with music from classic artists such as B.B. King, Blind John Davis and Booker White. You can also join Noreen Khan and Tommy Sandhu and relive the best in 2013’s Asian Music with Asian Network Rewind.

 

Sport highlights

Ronnie O'Sullivan

Make sure you don’t miss the goals from the Football League Show, which is on the Red Button from 2.30am on Sunday 1 December. Also make sure you keep up-to-date with the latest football scores with Final Score from 2.30pm on Saturday.

Finally, catch up with the latest action from York as the world’s snooker elite compete in the UK Snooker Championships, available every day between 4am and 11pm, Sunday to Friday. 

The year’s championship is one of eight snooker events where all 128 players enter at the first-round stage. Seven amateurs are participating after the same number of professionals pulled out - and they will face some of the biggest names in the sport.

The top 16 players have lost their protection in ranking events, having previously gone through automatically to the last-32 stage. Look out for 15-year-old Shane Castle playing Mark Selby and Rhys Clark, 19, facing Ronnie O'Sullivan.

For a full list and times of sport coverage on Red Button see the BBC Sport website.

 

BBC Four’s Blues Collection

BB King in London

Enjoy a collection of archive performances that delve into the world of American Blues Music. Immerse yourself in well-known performers such as B.B. King, Blind John Davis and Booker White, but also lesser known artists travelling the American music circuit in the 1970s.

More performances, including Muddy Waters, Billie Holiday and Sonny Boy Williamson are available in the BBC Four Blues Collection.

Sat 30 November, 11pm-12am
Sun 1 December, 11pm-4am
Mon 2 December, 11pm-4am
Tue 3 December, 11pm-4am
Wed 4 December, 11pm-4am
Thu 5 December, 11pm-4am
Fri 6 December, 11pm-4am  

All details correct at the time of publication

 

Asian Network Rewind

Join BBC Asian Network as they count down the Top 10 outstanding moments in Asian Music from 2013. Presenters Noreen Khan and Tommy Sandhu celebrate and relive the highlights. Make sure you tweet with #RedButtonRewind

Fri 6th December, 1pm-3.55pm
Fri 6th December, 6pm-7.55pm  

All details correct at the time of publication

Please note times are subject to change. 

Keep up with all the latest news by following us on Twitter @BBCRedButton