What should the BBC do?

I participated on a youth panel session recently at the BBC’s “Future of Mobile” conference. One of the questions posed to the panel was “What should the BBC do with its content given the apparent ‘disconnect’ with the teen and young adult audience?”

The BBC has always been the public service broadcaster that had, to some degree, a stuffy image that would disconnect with youth. But, let’s not forget that despite its incumbent position it gave youth Top of the Pops, Saturday Swap Shop, Pete Tong, Football Focus, John Peel amongst other highly rated and trusted content offerings.

Why does the BBC need to be everything to everybody?

It’s important to understand why this question was asked in the first place. The BBC is a publicly funded broadcaster. Their ability to raise $billions every year from the license fee (tax) is based on the public acceptance that they are “inclusive”.

If, for example, the BBC became irrelevant to certain groups within society such as ethnic minorities or youth, these consumers would form the beach-head of resistance to the received wisdom that the broadcaster operated in the “common good” and therefore justified its unique position to operate beyond the controls of the free market.

In order that the issue is kept off the political agenda, the BBC needs to serve everyone equally which makes it unique in comparison to commericially funded concerns that, due to boardroom and advertising client pressure, need to focus on specific niches without carrying the “baggage” of inclusivity.

If you go to any lengths to explore the BBC website for example, you can see what a fantastic piece of work it is. The depth it offers in content is incredible. Your journey will be endless. I recently found archived video of “The Gruffalo” for my boy as well as interactive (”educational”) games for toddlers on the CBeebies page. And it’s not just the website - the BBC offers the BBC Asian Network for UK Asians and also BBC in Welsh.

So the quality of their work is never in question and in my travels I have found few TV stations that can match its output.

What do youth value? Relevance or Quality?

The issue then is one of relevance. Do young consumers want quality?

On the one hand yes - there is always a need for editorial and leadership. The BBC as a brand is more trusted in its ability to position itself from the neutral POV unlike, say the FOX network. It also offers classic content that talks to a specific target audience - Top Gear, Match of the Day, The Office, The Blue Planet are all excellent examples.

Relevance over quality

The issue is not that their quality is in question, but that quality itself is in question. The BBC’s traditional inclusive approach to producing quality that appeals across the board is competing against a growing number of lower end content offerings globally, from niche providers as well as the consumers themselves.

As one commentator remarks (the once highly trusted brand) “Top of the Pops” simply doesn’t compare now to lower quality, more relevant competition:

Rock fans will instead probably be watching Kerrang or one of the other music channels. There are dozens of music channels, often distinguished by genre, but almost all with a definite pop slant. It’s not as if anybody would tune in to Top of the Pops just to get a feel of a cross-section of the chart. Probably about 95% of the radio stations in the country offer this. If you’re addicted to your television, there are countless television channels churning out any old video anywhere near the top 20.

The changing nature of youth media consumption

But let’s consider the reality of youth media consumption. The mobileYouth report highlights that young people are spending less time watching TV and more time online. The media industry’s own regulator - Ofcom found that 16-24 year olds are watching one hour less TV per day than the average viewer (Ofcom 2006). And when they are watching TV, they are often also online at the same time - watch the videos to make your own mind up.

The mobileYouth report shows how important “relevance” is as a key determinant of perceived content value. Relevant content is more valuable than quality content. So, what is relevant content? It’s content that understands your lifestyle and offers you some form of social benefit. Viral video that features your friends is more relevant than a highly polished network music show. In many cases, the polished nature of the video signals to young consumers that the content itself is somehow phony or unreal.

Youth are going online for video

70% of 18-29 year olds have visited online video sites such as Youtube in the last month, according to Emarketer. This is up 55% from a year ago (Dec 2006) and higher than other age groups (51% for 30-49 year olds). Youth are consuming their media through the parameters of experience they know. Video sites also convert the content to a format that is more relevant - they are able to vote, they are able to follow content recommendations - all features that are beyond traditional TV formats.

Taking TV out of the box to remain relevant

More than quality, youth want a format that takes TV “out of the box” - enables them to control it and derive social benefit from it in ways that the BBC is unable to offer in its current format. I’m not suggesting that BBC should set itself up as another Facebook (that would be a disaster), but it needs to open up its content archives to consumer interaction. The format already works for them through traditional channels - 606, 5 Live are excellent radio based examples that draw heavily on listener input.

The logical step is to bring that platform forward to the digital age and enable youth to interact with this content in the manner they know and reposition the BBC as a relevant brand once again.