Modernising audience experience across the BBC
BBC Chief Customer Officer Kerris Bright explains how we're updating our apps and services to make it easier to find what you love on TV, online and mobile.
Our mission is clear - to give everyone in the UK the best possible experience across our services and to deliver excellent value for money.
As part of that we need to make sure audiences are aware of the full breadth of services we offer and that our content is instantly recognisable, whether it’s on TV, radio or online.
How the BBC provides its services has changed dramatically in the last 20 years and it has been a long time since we updated the look and feel of the BBC.
Our research tells us that audiences think some of our services look old fashioned and out of date. They want a modern BBC that is easier to use and navigate to find the content they love and enjoy. The more content people find that they love, the more they will get from the BBC.
So that’s what we’re doing. Over the coming months we will be modernising all aspects of our services so the experience feels coherent wherever you access our content. We’ll join the dots between the different bits of the BBC through simplified layouts and graphics. For example, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds are already evolving to help our audiences discover more of what’s available.
There are plenty of little changes, designed to make a big difference and we’ll introduce them gradually across our services. iPlayer and Sounds will continue to change over the next six months and beyond, while News, Weather, Sport and Bitesize will follow after that.
As we update our digital services it makes sense to modernise how we present them too. Updated, recognisable colours, logos and graphics will identify each service and help improve navigation between them.
Over the last year, our content has won 130 awards including 31 BAFTAs and now we need to ensure that how we package things up matches that quality.
This week exciting new content on the BBC includes conspiracy thriller The Trick, series six of much loved drama Shetland, and new documentaries including Four Hours at the Capitol and Panorama - Online Hate will broadcast. We’ve also got top quality entertainment in the form of Strictly Come Dancing and RuPaul’s Drag Race, while Ridley Road and the fascinating Blair & Brown: the New Labour Revolution continue.
Alongside this outstanding content, from tomorrow BBC One, Two and Four will start to look and feel different across all nations, plus BBC Scotland and BBC Alba. The junctions between TV programmes will use updated designs, with simplified navigation menus, and promotional content. These early changes will help build familiarity with the new look of the BBC.
In time, when audiences browse iPlayer and Sounds, watch TV, read the Sport headlines online or check the News app, they’ll see a new, modern and distinctive BBC across TV, online and mobile, that’s easier to use. It will be unmistakably BBC, just like our content.
