Some interesting factoids from Jake Kanter in Deadline, who seems to have got hold of a transcript of the latest session between BBC executives and staff.
It features the thoughts of Chief Customer Officer, Kerris Bright, normally out of the spotlight, but recently claiming some part in the recent Romesh Raganathan 'humble-brag' promo.
She says, of compelling licence payers to input real details to unlock iPlayer “The vast majority of evasion is not on iPlayer. The vast majority of people that are watching iPlayer are people that are paying their TV license, and so to put a gate in front of iPlayer, the data today says that you actually would make it a very difficult experience for people that are paying for the license.”
“As we go into the future, more of an IPTV world, audiences changing behavior, new ways of creating experiences that maybe aren’t so full of friction for audiences … that might absolutely be an opportunity for us, depending on the funding model."
So are the evaders on old-fashioned Freeview ?
“The vast majority of evasion is not on iPlayer"
ReplyDeleteI don't believe a word of it! You're merely asked if you have a licence, and maybe give an email address, when you use iPlayer. No confirmation of a licence number or a PIN to actually access it - if there were then the Beeb could limit the level of iPlayer access, or withhold it entirely, if you didn't have one.
So there must be evaders hiding out on iPlayer too!
A small point perhaps but the use of American English in such comms is both lamentable and revealing. Why does the Chief Customer Officer not see that in a crowded market the BBC cannot afford to lose its USP and its values?
ReplyDeleteOne of the commenters on the Deadline item said this:
ReplyDelete"Whatever happens, the end result is that reality will set in: only a proportion of the British public actually want to pay to watch the BBC.
The BBC should just get down to business finding their natural audience, figuring out how many they are, and setting their future budgets accordingly. Maybe they raise the price; maybe they introduce ads. The gravy train is done."
I don't think I can find anything to disagree with in that. The days of widespread affection for Auntie, and therefore acceptance of a universal licence fee as the price we pay for a "national broadcasting service" analogous to a national health service, are over. And the BBC has only itself to blame; its handling of crisis after crisis has been lamentably cack-handed. I heard a young guy, someone I know as an intelligent, quite liberal person, calling it the Nonce Protection Corporation the other day. I'm afraid Auntie is now in the same position as the water companies: no-one wants to be forced to pay for an organisation that is so obviously run so badly, however valued its product.
Am I the only one bemused by this doublespeak? On the one hand,
ReplyDelete"the data today says [gating iPlayer] would make it a very difficult experience for people that are paying for the license.”
On the other,
"As we go into the future .. that might absolutely be an opportunity for us, depending on the funding model."
This in an article headlined "BBC Considers Locking Down iPlayer For Viewers Who Refuse To Pay License Fee".
So what is it, very difficult or an opportunity? What will change in future to make gating iPlayer an opportunity? If you mean, the current ageing generation of fumblies, who have conniptions at every unfamiliar message thrown up on a screen, will have died off, say so. Otherwise, sorry but this simple soul concludes you're saying nothing at all. There's a turn-up.