{"id":20906,"date":"2022-08-25T18:16:48","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T16:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1698833"},"modified":"2022-08-25T18:52:16","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T16:52:16","slug":"bbc-three-boss-defends-broadcast-ratings-says-iplayer-is-priority","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/bbc-three-boss-defends-broadcast-ratings-says-iplayer-is-priority\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Three boss defends broadcast ratings, says iPlayer is priority"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Morgan Jeffery\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 25 August 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The performance of BBC Three\u2019s programming on iPlayer remains top priority, the channel\u2019s controller has said \u2013 despite its much-publicised return to linear broadcasting.<\/p>\n

In 2014, then BBC Director-General Tony Hall announced that the broadcaster would be closing BBC Three as a linear channel and moving its programming online. In 2021, the decision was reversed, with linear broadcasting resuming in early 2022.<\/p>\n

Much of BBC Three\u2019s programming has attracted fewer than 100,000 viewers on live television since the relaunch, but speaking at this year\u2019s Edinburgh International TV Festival, controller Fiona Campbell said that iPlayer remains the key focus when commissioning.<\/p>

\u201cWe very clearly said right from the beginning that our strategy remains commissioning for iPlayer,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201c[But] we want to showcase the platform and the content to maximum effect and there are members of the older audience who don\u2019t have a strong, frequent relationship with iPlayer, so it\u2019s really important to get that content out there in the maximum ways possible, to show them what the BBC has for them and then to pull them in to have a closer, more frequent relationship with iPlayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo all along, I\u2019ve said, the commissions strategy doesn\u2019t change. It\u2019s all about content that\u2019s going to work on iPlayer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campbell argued that offering BBC Three programming on both iPlayer and a broadcast channel allows the channel to \u201cdistribute it as far and wide\u201d as possible, adding that viewers who sample one episode of a show on broadcast might then head to iPlayer to watch the remainder of the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hope is that by people finding [shows] through that route, they go, \u2018Actually, that\u2019s really for me and I\u2019ll go and seek the rest of that out on iPlayer,\u2019 so it\u2019s a whole package of distribution.\u201d<\/p>\n