Grand Prix: iPlayer BBC

The BBC’s iPlayer has been credited by rival media brands, such as Virgin Media, with hugely boosting the market for video-on-demand. ISP companies, including Tiscali, BT and Carphone Warehouse, have expressed concern that the impact of hundreds of thousands of consumers watching BBC programmes on the iPlayer is placing an intolerable strain on their networks – such is its success.

Within three weeks of its official launch, the BBC reported that over 3.5 million programmes had been streamed. The BBC originally planned for only 500,000 users within the first six months of the download service. The iPlayer accounted for 5% of all UK traffic – approximately 5 million page views per day – by June this year.

The iPlayer allows UK viewers who have internet connections to play television programmes from the past seven days and watch them, free of charge, over the web. TV programmes can be downloaded, stored on viewers’computers for up to 30 days and watched as often as required during that time.

Apple iPhone, iPod touch and Nintendo Wii users have access to a beta version of the BBC iPlayer homepage and can stream TV and radio programmes as long as they are connected to a network.

The BBC hopes that providing high quality programmes over the internet legally, easily and for no cost will discourage piracy and illegal downloading. The product has been awarded a Bafta for “Interactive Innovation Service/Platform”.

Sponsor: YouGov

YouGov is an international, full service research company primarily using online panels to provide quantitative and qualitative research across a range of specialisms. These include consumer markets, financial services, technology and telecoms and media. YouGov’s full service offering spans added value consultancy, syndicated and product offers, omnibus and field and tab services. YouGov is considered the pioneer of online market research. Through panel management expertise, flexibility and an innovative approach to recruitment, YouGov operates a quality panel of over 200,000 UK members representing all ages, socio-economic groups and other demographic types, with excellent response rates. YouGov also specialises in growing and maintaining dedicated panels of specialist consumer and professional audiences.

Based on its record, YouGov has been acclaimed as the UK’s most accurate opinion pollster and dominates Britain’s media polling.

YouGov is one of the most quoted agencies in Britain and has a welldocumented and published track record illustrating the success of its survey methods and quality of its client service work.

YouGov

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Nadhim Zahawi – Group Chief Executive Officer
Tim Britton – Chief Executive UK
Stephan Shakespeare – Chief Innovation Officer
Alan Newman – Chief Financial Officer
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