BBCi to disappear as website gets new look and name

by Gordon MacMillan,, Brand Republic 04-May-04, 14:00

LONDON - The BBC is to drop the BBCi name from its website as part of an overhaul of its online service that sees bbc.co.uk adopted as the site's new name.

The new-look revamped site will be launched in a phased rollout. The new name will appear across the BBC's website from Thursday May 6, followed by a new, simplified design for the homepage, which will be unveiled on May 17.

Ashley Highfield, BBC director new media and technology, said: "The BBC has a vital role to play in getting people online and, once they're there, making the internet as simple and easy to use as possible. The new name, bbc.co.uk, is much more intuitive for users and the improved, clearer home page design will make our website easier to navigate."

The BBC has used the BBCi moniker as a catch-all for all things interactive, online, on radio and on television. The BBCi name will not disappear altogether -- it will still be used, but in future it will refer solely to interactive television.

According to the BBC, the name change comes after research showed that consumers saw the term BBCi as being closely associated with the BBC's interactive television services and not its website.

Latest figures for the BBC's website show that the BBC's reach among the 23m adults in the UK who use the web at an all-time high of 45% in March 2004, with a record number of 10.35m people using the BBC website during March. This is a leap of 750,000 new users on the previous month.

The redesign of the logo for the name change was headed up by Steve Conway, head of marketing for BBC New Media, while controller of internet Tony Ageh has overseen the redesign of the homepage.

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