BBC lays the foundation for migration to internet TV

by Sue Unerman, Media Week 11-Mar-08, 09:00

The numbers released by the BBC on the success of the iPlayer are a sign of accelerated change in TV viewing habits.

BBC shows have been streamed or downloaded more than 17 million times since Christmas. The iPlayer averages 1.3 million unique users a week and popular shows are benefiting from a 10% uplift in audience.

The site itself now includes a "most popular" section, listing the most downloaded shows, and a "more like this" personalisation system, familiar from Amazon.

As the BBC's promotion of the iPlayer continues, a significant phenomenon will occur in the UK. The BBC is single-handedly converting swathes of the population to watching TV on their laptops who would never previously have done so.

Not so long ago, TV pundits were pronouncing that the television set in the living room would continue to reign supreme, and that watching TV shows on the internet would remain a niche and a youth activity. I do not think that anybody can claim this with anywhere near the same level of confidence today.

The BBC is teaching us to watch TV on our laptops. It is also arguably hastening the decline of viewing as a family. While this represents a minority of viewing in our house, and is largely programme-led (Dr Who, The Simpsons, Soccer AM), we still gather on significant occasions to watch and discuss TV shows.

Is the BBC - surely the bastion of tradition in this sense - now encouraging the death of joint viewing, except on special occasions such as Christmas or major sporting events?

On the other hand, the BBC may be acting as an important antidote to kids' tendency to disappear to their bedrooms to watch clips on YouTube instead of "proper" TV shows. With YouTube due to offer users the chance to have their own 24-hour TV channels, it could be down to the BBC to give it a run for its money.

Fundamentally, the whole issue shows the power of the BBC for cultural change. If the BBC says it is okay to watch TV on our laptops, then we will all eventually do so.

However, this can only hasten the days when internet TV becomes the norm, with all the implications this delivers for traditional ways of planning, measuring and trading on commercial television.

Sue Unerman is chief strategy officer at MediaCom
sue.unerman@haymarket.com