Channels as content curators: Multiplatform strategies for documentary film and factual content in British public service broadcasting

Abstract

Today, VOD (video on demand) sites and portals specializing in long-form, high-quality documentary and factual content proliferate online. This article explores the multiplatform strategies of public service broadcasters in the UK in this context. It examines how the BBC and Channel 4 address the masses of user generated content that flood the documentary market and partake in the battle for audiences for documentary films and factual content in a multiplatform context. Both channels seek to reinvent themselves as public service media providers and curators of documentary content online, in order to fulfil public service remits and secure their positions as leading providers of documentary and factual content across platforms in a global multiplatform mediascape. However, by contrasting Channel 4's online 'verticals' with the BBC's themed and branded documentary portals, the article argues that although Channel 4 and BBC pursue similar strategies online they do so for different reasons and to different effect.

Multi-platform media and the miracle of the loaves and fishes

“…Therefore this article extends a limited body of earlier work (Bennett & Strange, 2014;Sørensen, 2014) by presenting new findings in relation to how the transition to a multi-platform environment is impacting on organisational strategies. These findings highlight some of the key managerial and economic trials and opportunities involved as media companies make the journey from being single sector to digital multi-platform suppliers of content.…”

“…online, mobile, interactive games and so on) and not just a single delivery platform such as print or linear television (Doyle, 2010;Parker, 2007). In the television industry for example, adoption of a multi-platform outlook has been characterised by the development of content-related websites, video on demand (VOD) services and other digital offerings capitalising on popular brands and, also, by the introduction of multi-platform commissioning processes whereby broadcasters will consider any ideas for new content not purely in terms of a channel but rather an array of potential digital outlets (Bennett & Strange, 2014;Sørensen, 2014). In newspaper and magazine industries, a similar transition has occurred with production increasingly taking place in newsrooms that are converged or "fully integrated" with staff creating products intended, from inception, for distribution on print, online and mobile platforms (Candy, 2014).…”

“…Some earlier studies have focused on multi-platform strategies although typically the context for such analyses is a single sector, for example some looking purely at the experience of newspaper publishers (Goyanes & Dürrenberg, 2014) and others at magazines (Champion, 2014). Several authors have provided insights into how multi-platform approaches are bringing change to production and consumption of television (Guerrero, Diego, & Pardo, 2013;Roscoe, 2004;Sørensen, 2014;Ytreberg, 2009). Some of this work has centred on how Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) organisations such as the BBC have adjusted to become suppliers of public service content across multiple platforms instead of merely broadcasters (Bardoel & Lowe, 2007;Bennett, Strange, Kerr, & Medrado, 2012;Enli, 2008).…”

Resistance of channels: Television distribution in the multiplatform era

“…Several authors have examined how multiplatform approaches are changing delivery and consumption of audiovisual material (Guerrero, Diego and Pardo 2013;Roscoe, 2004;Ytreberg, 2009). Some have centred specifically on how public service broadcasting organisations such as the BBC have adjusted to become suppliers of public service content across multiple platforms (Bardoel and Lowe, 2007;Bennett, Strange, Kerr and Medrado, 2012;Enli 2008;Sørensen, 2014).As distribution of television has migrated onto web-connected platforms, growing competition from on-demand sites (such as Netflix and YouTube) and a progressive empowerment of viewers to assert their own choices has raised questions about the ongoing role and relevance of 'the channel' as a format for content delivery. Channels, where content is packaged into a linear transmission schedule, have traditionally played a key role in bundling and packaging television content for audiences and in enabling broadcasters to engage in strategies of segmentation, marketing and positioning of their wares (Barwise, 2004: 24).…”

“…Several authors have examined how multiplatform approaches are changing delivery and consumption of audiovisual material (Guerrero, Diego and Pardo 2013;Roscoe, 2004;Ytreberg, 2009). Some have centred specifically on how public service broadcasting organisations such as the BBC have adjusted to become suppliers of public service content across multiple platforms (Bardoel and Lowe, 2007;Bennett, Strange, Kerr and Medrado, 2012;Enli 2008;Sørensen, 2014).…”