BBC Three boss defends broadcast ratings, says iPlayer is priority
Fiona Campbell addresses the channel's performance following its return as a linear TV channel.
The performance of BBC Three's programming on iPlayer remains top priority, the channel's controller has said – despite its much-publicised return to linear broadcasting.
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.
Much of BBC Three's programming has attracted fewer than 100,000 viewers on live television since the relaunch, but speaking at this year's Edinburgh International TV Festival, controller Fiona Campbell said that iPlayer remains the key focus when commissioning.
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"We very clearly said right from the beginning that our strategy remains commissioning for iPlayer," she explained.
"[But] we want to showcase the platform and the content to maximum effect and there are members of the older audience who don't have a strong, frequent relationship with iPlayer, so it's 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.
"So all along, I've said, the commissions strategy doesn't change. It's all about content that's going to work on iPlayer."
Campbell argued that offering BBC Three programming on both iPlayer and a broadcast channel allows the channel to "distribute it as far and wide" 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.
"The hope is that by people finding [shows] through that route, they go, 'Actually, that's really for me and I'll go and seek the rest of that out on iPlayer,' so it's a whole package of distribution."
In the same session, Charlotte Moore – the BBC's Chief Content Officer – gave an update on the Doctor Who centenary special and suggested that the upcoming Waterloo Road revival would see the show "reimagined for the modern day", while Kate Phillips, Director of BBC Unscripted, addressed the decision to cancel long-running panel show Mock the Week and confirmed the broadcaster's interest in reviving reality series Survivor.
Read more coverage from the Edinburgh International TV Festival 2022:
- BBC boss gives update on fate of BBC Four, CBBC amid closure plans
- EastEnders future is secure despite ratings drop, says BBC boss
- Heartstopper team tease season 2 plans and talk spin-off potential
- Heartstopper boss talks why they had to change Nick's journey for TV
- Channel 4 boss on Big Brother return: 'Reviving old shows is depressing'
- Armando Iannucci dismisses Doctor Who "woke" criticism, backs "colourblind" casting
- ITV boss backs Emmerdale and Coronation Street schedule change
- ITV boss reveals why the channel is resurrecting Big Brother
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Authors
Morgan Jeffery is the Digital Editor for Radio Times, overseeing all editorial output across the brand's digital platforms. He was previously TV Editor at Digital Spy and has featured as a TV expert on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.
