BBC shares content with YouTube

 

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 2 Mar 2007 at 14:02

BBC content will soon be legitimately appearing on YouTube. Whereas shows such as Top Gear, for example, were often to be found on the site, content will now appear legitimately. Under the terms of the deal, there will be be three officially BBC-branded channels on YouTube, which is now owned by Google.

Don't expect to see full length episodes online, however. Under the non-exclusive partnership, the BBC channels will only contain 'short-form videos'.

From the BBC itself, on the BBC channel there will clips and promotional content of shows such as Doctor Who and Life On Mars and specially-created video diaries related to the shows, such as taking viewers around the set of Doctor Who.

There will also be a second entertainment channel, dubbed BBC Worldwide, showing clips from the likes of Spooks, The Catherine Tate Show and The Mighty Boosh, as well as from documentaries presented by David Attenborough. The channel will include a limited amount of advertising, states the BBC.

There will also be a news offering, which isn't available yet. Around 30 news clips a day are promised, providing 'up-to-the-minute news and analysis from around the world,' in the words of the BBC. These advertising-funded clips, however, will only be available to users outside the UK, states the corporation.

From the YouTube perspective, the deal - which is part of a number of worldwide agreements announced today - further legitimises YouTube and its handling of copyrighted material.

From the BBC perspective, not only is there revenue-raising potential from the associated online advertising, courtesy of Google, but it will increase its online audiences. The BBC also speaks of 'bringing new audiences to the proposed BBC iPlayer service.'

The Director-General of the BBC, Mark Thompson, described the deal as 'fantastic news' for the BBC's audience. 'YouTube is a key gateway through which to engage new audiences in the UK and abroad,' he added.

'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,' said the CEO and Co-Founder of YouTube, Chad Hurley. We hope to open up an entirely new audience for their content, while deepening their relationship with their existing viewers.'

Specifically, the deal involves both the BBC and BBC Worldwide, which is the main commercial arm, and a wholly owned subsidiary, of the BBC. It is intended to increase BBC revenues for the benefit of UK licence payers.

The deal highlights, once again, the issue of how best the BBC can maximise revenues from online audiences - which are global, by nature - and yet not be seen as a commercial rival to UK content producers.

What are your thoughts on the BBC YouTube tie-up? Leave your comments via the link below.