BBC Three

[Brekkie]

I always felt the Newsbeat brand should have been expanded to include BBC3 in the evenings and now with Newsbeat moving to Birmingham that ticks an out of London box for them too.

[Robert Williams]

I always felt the Newsbeat brand should have been expanded to include BBC3 in the evenings and now with Newsbeat moving to Birmingham that ticks an out of London box for them too.

I'm sure I remember reading that there was indeed a plan to rebrand 60 Seconds as Newsbeat. However that got overtaken by the plan to close BBC Three.

As for the new bulletin, I wonder if 7pm is the best time for it? Will a short bulletin broadcast when the channel has only just gone on air catch all that many viewers? Few, if any, people are going to switch on BBC Three specifically to watch this bulletin, so I'd have thought a slot in between other programmes, perhaps at 8pm, would pick up more viewers.

[Roger Darthwell]

I always felt the Newsbeat brand should have been expanded to include BBC3 in the evenings and now with Newsbeat moving to Birmingham that ticks an out of London box for them too.

I'm sure I remember reading that there was indeed a plan to rebrand 60 Seconds as Newsbeat. However that got overtaken by the plan to close BBC Three.

As for the new bulletin, I wonder if 7pm is the best time for it? Will a short bulletin broadcast when the channel has only just gone on air catch all that many viewers? Few, if any, people are going to switch on BBC Three specifically to watch this bulletin, so I'd have thought a slot in between other programmes, perhaps at 8pm, would pick up more viewers.

The plan to rebrand 60 Seconds as Newsbeat was hinted by Tony Hall back in 2014 I think, that was before he closed it though

[Solari]

I always felt the Newsbeat brand should have been expanded to include BBC3 in the evenings and now with Newsbeat moving to Birmingham that ticks an out of London box for them too.

I'm sure I remember reading that there was indeed a plan to rebrand 60 Seconds as Newsbeat. However that got overtaken by the plan to close BBC Three.

As for the new bulletin, I wonder if 7pm is the best time for it? Will a short bulletin broadcast when the channel has only just gone on air catch all that many viewers? Few, if any, people are going to switch on BBC Three specifically to watch this bulletin, so I'd have thought a slot in between other programmes, perhaps at 8pm, would pick up more viewers.

And, of course, 8pm was when the infamous '90 second update' on BBC One went out for many years.

(As an aside, I never liked that bulletin - I always found it very patronising in both script and delivery - but then I guess that shows I'm not the sort of person it was aimed at!)

[raymond]

Wonder if the EE repeats are going to return. They didn't do very well on W, presumably as its a relatively unknown pay channel. You don't really hear people say things such as, 'Ah yeah, you planning on watching Masterchef Australia tonight on W?'

I have no data on the statistics for repeats on Three, but I seem to remember hearing they did quite well?

[adamiow]

Wonder if the EE repeats are going to return. They didn't do very well on W, presumably as its a relatively unknown pay channel. You don't really hear people say things such as, 'Ah yeah, you planning on watching Masterchef Australia tonight on W?'

I have no data on the statistics for repeats on Three, but I seem to remember hearing they did quite well?

About 400-500k according to BARB data for the last few months before BBC Three closed.

[Joe]

It might be worth saying that any branding of the news as Newsbeat needs to be about much more than the name. I honestly think Newsbeat is some of the strongest news that the BBC does, it’s so well tailored to the audience. So, I think BBC Three news needs to be more than just ‘youth news’ before it’s worthy of the Newsbeat team. Ideally it should be the same team doing both (presumably that would be the idea).

[BBCMeridian]

Well if BBC Three does return to television, then what I would like the BBC to do is to stop promoting stuff on Iplayer as in trying to get viewers to watch IPlayer than TV because that's exactly what it's doing. Especially on trailers when the voiceover promoting a programme says for example, Tuesday at 9:00, on BBC One and Iplayer, it doesn't sound right it really doesn't and I don't like it, why couldn't it be just simpler when they just say Tuesday at 9:00 on BBC One. Without mentioning and IPlayer.

[LoganStuff]

Well if BBC Three does return to television, then what I would like the BBC to do is to stop promoting stuff on Iplayer as in trying to get viewers to watch IPlayer than TV because that's exactly what it's doing. Especially on trailers when the voiceover promoting a programme says for example, Tuesday at 9:00, on BBC One and Iplayer, it doesn't sound right it really doesn't and I don't like it, why couldn't it be just simpler when they just say Tuesday at 9:00 on BBC One. Without mentioning and IPlayer.

Whether you like it or not, iPlayer is a core part of BBC's services now and is where a lot of people will go to watch their programming. It makes sense for them to constantly promote it on programme trailers.

[dbl]

Well if BBC Three does return to television, then what I would like the BBC to do is to stop promoting stuff on Iplayer as in trying to get viewers to watch IPlayer than TV because that's exactly what it's doing. Especially on trailers when the voiceover promoting a programme says for example, Tuesday at 9:00, on BBC One and Iplayer, it doesn't sound right it really doesn't and I don't like it, why couldn't it be just simpler when they just say Tuesday at 9:00 on BBC One. Without mentioning and IPlayer.

I expect the opposite, BBC Three will be the window shop for BBC iPlayer. As far as broadcasters are concerned, as long as viewers stay in their eco-system then it's not an issue. Especially when Gen Z/Gen A treats TV like an app nowadays

[BBCMeridian]

Well if BBC Three does return to television, then what I would like the BBC to do is to stop promoting stuff on Iplayer as in trying to get viewers to watch IPlayer than TV because that's exactly what it's doing. Especially on trailers when the voiceover promoting a programme says for example, Tuesday at 9:00, on BBC One and Iplayer, it doesn't sound right it really doesn't and I don't like it, why couldn't it be just simpler when they just say Tuesday at 9:00 on BBC One. Without mentioning and IPlayer.

Whether you like it or not, iPlayer is a core part of BBC's services now and is where a lot of people will go to watch their programming. It makes sense for them to constantly promote it on programme trailers.

Er, No, it doesn't make any sense, from what I see and hear it sounds like they're trying to make people watch on IPlayer instead on TV and in order for linear tv to continue and for BBC Three to be a success on TV, they shouldn't be promoting IPlayer on Programme trailers, to be honest IPlayer is meant to be a catch up service, what the BBC are doing which is promoting programmes into IPlayer and putting it there first before it gets shown on TV in my opinion is totally wrong.

[London Lite]

Well if BBC Three does return to television, then what I would like the BBC to do is to stop promoting stuff on Iplayer as in trying to get viewers to watch IPlayer than TV because that's exactly what it's doing. Especially on trailers when the voiceover promoting a programme says for example, Tuesday at 9:00, on BBC One and Iplayer, it doesn't sound right it really doesn't and I don't like it, why couldn't it be just simpler when they just say Tuesday at 9:00 on BBC One. Without mentioning and IPlayer.

Whether you like it or not, iPlayer is a core part of BBC's services now and is where a lot of people will go to watch their programming. It makes sense for them to constantly promote it on programme trailers.

Er, No, it doesn't make any sense, from what I see and hear it sounds like they're trying to make people watch on IPlayer instead on TV and in order for linear tv to continue and for BBC Three to be a success on TV, they shouldn't be promoting IPlayer on Programme trailers, to be honest IPlayer is meant to be a catch up service, what the BBC are doing which is promoting programmes into IPlayer and putting it there first before it gets shown on TV in my opinion is totally wrong.

Broadcasters around the world are doing exactly what the BBC are doing. There are whole series that have been scheduled in France on TF1, France 2, France 3 and M6 which get the box set treatment on SVOD service Salto, which is co-owned by the three broadcasters.

The only show that really affected me was Motherland, which I decided to watch at BBC Two pace rather than binging, but linear tv's rivals are now Amazon and Netflix, rather than ITV and Sky.

[dbl]

Indeed, NBC, UKTV Play, ITV Hub, All4, CBS/Paramount+ and all other broadcasters aren't plugging the hell out of their apps/on demand service for the fun of it, it's a necessity.

Adapt or fall behind with a generation of viewers

[Steve Williams]

The 7 O'Clock News is what I'm talking about - originally a 15-minute news bulletin called The News Show. After Liquid News was axed, the 7 O'Clock News took part of Liquid News's budget, was extended to 30 minutes and became a more of a laid-back discussion-based show presented by the likes of Eddie Mair and Paddy O'Connell. I thought it was quite a good watch by the end, but it seems few other viewers agreed.

Sorry if I looked like I was diving in before you there, but thank you for sharing that video, it's great fun. I hadn't seen it since I watched it at the time but it turns out I remembered quite a bit of it. I love it when Tazeen Ahmad says she thinks it might have done better if it had a better slot, Paddy says "I don't think you're allowed to say that, are you?" and she says "Who cares?". Some familiar names in the big long list of credits as well.

One of the other bits I remember from that programme which isn't in the video is when they suggested other things that you might like to watch at 7pm now it had been axed, and you didn't fancy the "nearly new current affairs" that was replacing it. I remember they said you could watch Emmerdale "with its melodramatic delivery of improbable stories, so not that different".

As for the new bulletin, I wonder if 7pm is the best time for it? Will a short bulletin broadcast when the channel has only just gone on air catch all that many viewers? Few, if any, people are going to switch on BBC Three specifically to watch this bulletin, so I'd have thought a slot in between other programmes, perhaps at 8pm, would pick up more viewers.

Yeah, it's always going to be a bit awkward, initially it was on for fifteen minutes at 7.45 but that was probably more trouble than it was worth cos they had to find a load of fifteen minute fillers to fill the rest of the half hour, and it didn't sync with any junction on any other channel so hardly anyone was channel surfing at that time. So moving it to seven o'clock made a bit more sense, especially when it moved to half an hour, because it meant it started at the same time as lots of other programmes and it was out of the way by 7.30 to allow for more flexibility for the rest of the evening, but of course because it was the first programme on each evening it inherited an audience of zero, and news programmes on all channels really benefit from a decent lead-in.

But then if you put it on any later, it sort of gets in the way. I suppose if it's the same as the old BBC3, it'll probably get its biggest audiences later in the evening and that's where all the high profile stuff will go - the old BBC3 always did best after 10.30 when the main channels were packing up, and the target audience stays up later than the average viewer - so there presumably will be some benefit in having at least one new programme earlier in the evening. It's like why BBC Scotland do The Nine, they said at the time 9pm is such a competitive hour there was no point in wasting high profile programmes there so it makes sense to do a bit of low rating PSB to offer a real alternative.

[London Lite]

Indeed, NBC, UKTV Play, ITV Hub, All4, CBS/Paramount+ and all other broadcasters aren't plugging the hell out of their apps/on demand service for the fun of it, it's a necessity.

Adapt or fall behind with a generation of viewers

And that's it, only recently there were complaints from younger viewers who couldn't watch Love Island or the Euro 2020 football on ITV Hub because of capacity issues. It could be argued that they could have turned on a tv and pressed LCN 6 on their remote, but television has to adapt to the needs of a changing audience.

Linear of course has its place and it's right that BBC Three is returning to the platform, but this time round as a promotional tool to promote the BBC Three strand on iPlayer, along with those younger audiences who can't stream iPlayer content because of slow download speeds.