It may be a triumph of style over substance, but the future looks good for broadcaster services like the iPlayer...

Over the last 12 months we have witnessed a mass of internet TV services launching on both sides of the Atlantic - Babelgum, 4oD, Blinkx, Joost, Jalipo, Zattoo and Hulu to name just a few. The noise that Internet TV is causing continues to get louder, and now we're seeing more of the established media players stepping up to the plate and entering this space - one of the most newsworthy being the BBC with their new and improved iPlayer service.

The Public Service side of the BBC will, as it has done in broadcast TV, have a huge impact on the Internet TV sector in the UK. The new service offers both streaming and download options with hundreds of hours of content to choose from - all of which is free. Programmes are available for streaming up to seven days after they have been broadcast on TV. An alternative is to install the iPlayer, which allows viewers to download content to the PC and gives a 30 day period to watch programmes after their TV broadcast - although, once played for the first time, a seven day expiry time kicks in.

Programming comes from any one of the BBC's eight TV channels where catch up rights have been secured to broadcast that show via the web. The content offer is varied and the BBC are adding to it - however most films, sporting events, archive content and international programmes are not available due to rights restrictions. Although notably they have recently included the coverage of the Six Nations Rugby tournament, the first of the premium BBC sports events to be included, and secured a deal with Sony to offer acquired series such as Damages on the iPlayer.  

A high profile campaign took place for the new and improved iPlayer using well known TV personalities from hit BBC shows (e.g. Jeremy Clarkson and David Attenborough). The idea being to position the service as something for everyone and not just for web savvy youngsters. The tagline 'Making the Unmissable... Unmissable' was used and advertisements are seen across all forms of media - TV, Newspapers, Online, Billboards, Bus stops...

It's not surprising that early results are looking good with the BBC enjoying 250,000 videos watched daily. New research from Screen Digest has even been revised since the iPlayer launch and suggests that the number of free-to-view online TV streams and downloads served in the UK will rise to 1.5 billion in 2008 - driven largely by the success of the iPlayer. Hitwise also reported huge growth in traffic to the website. However it's notable that the average viewing time was only 9 minutes, suggesting that a reasonable proportion of visitors are not watching anything - or simply testing out the service.

It's still early days for the iPlayer and we've seen a number of versions come and go with constant improvements being made. The service is definitely stylish and slick. It's accessible to all levels of user and will no doubt encourage the internet surfer who previously didn't watch much video on the PC to get involved. As a trusted brand, providing significant promotional time with high quality content it's likely that the service will do more for online video usage in the UK than any of its predecessors.

However, if you dig a little deeper you feel that the BBC are missing a trick or two at the moment, and wonder where policy decisions (The BBC Trust set strict rules for the service following Market Impact Assessments and Public Value Tests) and product decision making may have left them missing some continuity and functionality across the service. As the early VOD operators learnt, the need for editorial control with On Demand content remains as strong with On Demand as it is with the linear broadcaster world. The Trust limited the BBC from offering series stacking (when all episodes from a series remain available for the life of the series and therefore longer than the seven day catch up window) but this doesn't explain why you can't you see multiple episodes of a show in one place when they are available. And, if you prefer to download shows, why can't you pre-book shows for when they are available?

When a programme has been broadcast twice (as is frequently the case nowadays), it then appears in different places with different expiry dates on the service. Surely wherever you navigate to a version of the programme you should see the 'highest common denominator' of rights availability? It seems however, that the focus of functionality is quite literally catch-up.   You missed a show, find it by genre, by channel, by the day of broadcast, and watch it. Perhaps the recommendations engines and pre-booking tools will follow - the search engine works quite well - but we will have to wait and see how the service develops.

As expected the BBC has taken on the Internet TV market and looks like it's going to be one of the players that's here to stay. There are a number of factors needed for an Internet TV service to succeed and the iPlayer is well on its way. However, as with anything new, there are always improvements to be made and we look forward to watching how the BBC embraces this new way of consuming media. The launch of their US site (expected to use the BBC America brand) and the forthcoming combined service by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 (currently using the name 'Kangaroo) will also be ones to watch out for.

Associated Links

• Internet TV - Learn to Surf the Hype Wave - Click here
• Internet TV - 5 Key Insights - Click here
• BBC iPlayer - Click here