The coronavirus pandemic has led British broadcaster BBC to reassess its long-term strategic plans, shifting away from older audience members and linear channels towards online viewing and younger viewers.
Publishing its Annual Plan today, the BBC says the current health crisis had led to a rapid acceleration of long-term trends toward online viewing and an increase in younger viewers tuning in to its services.
Since the U.K. lockdown was announced on March 23rd, BBC iPlayer has had nearly 1 billion requests – up 61% on the same seven-week period last year and a lot of those doing so are in the aged 16-34 age bracket with recent series like “Normal People” proving a hit.
Their aim now will be to provide more value for those under 55 and to support the growth of iPlayer, along with taking a more aggressive stance against international streamers which have eaten away at its market share.
They’ve also done an about face on policy, announcing they are considering bringing BBC Three back on air – likely to do so by taking its BBC Four channel online and looking at it to become a new global subscription service. At its height, BBC3 launched shows such as “Little Britain,” “Torchwood,” “Being Human,” “Gavin & Stacey,” “The Fades” and “In the Flesh”.
The BBC also says it is now ready to return to program production within weeks should conditions and government advice allow.
Source: Deadline
