Tuesday, January 30, 2007

BBC to launch social networks - and your career on TV?

Now this is potentially scary - though not entirely unexpected: BBC to invest in social networking sites (over on Communities Dominate Brands)
Alan Moore discusses the BBC plan to build UGC socially-networking sites around brands such as Top Gear (while also planning to sell TV Centre - an illustration of the rapid shift from central broadcast to independant content creators).
The big advantage the Beeb has in a pitch for your video UGC (even against YouTube) is it has a reputation for putting things on the tele. Yep, your video nasty could, just conceivably, be broadcast on 'proper TV'.
Now, I don't know whether or not that is the Beeb plan - but it would be a real short-term drawer. Despite the rush to co-created content, you'd be hard pushed to find someone who wouldn't prefer that their own UGC reaches a huge number of people in one hit - and the perception remains that that's on TV.
If the Beeb ran a CurrentTV-style show straight after CBeebies on BBC4... what a head start they'd have.
That head start would only be for the short term. But it would give them the time to cement their audience into a TV-on-demand future.
If TV on demand via your pc, TV, mobile device is the real future, the TV schedule and the power of traditional channels just dribbles away.
Looks like rivals have a year before the BBC version will kick in.

1 comment:

  1. They're not the only TV player looking at new technology and platforms:

    http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2007/01/22/wired-covers-a-second-life-for-mtv/

    ReplyDelete

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