Sunday, August 03, 2008

BBC Vision's internet portfolio / My elliptical job title explained



'Senior Portfolio Executive, Internet - BBC Vision Multiplatform' - there's no denying that I have fairly incomprehensible job title. All of the words kind of make sense on their own but when strung together, not so much. So, mostly for the benefit of my parents and girlfriend (who frequently have to try and explain what I do), here's an attempt to break it down into some semblance of meaning...

First, the easy bit. BBC Vision is the "the biggest integrated multimedia broadcast and production group of its kind in the world" which officially launched in November 2006 with "a mission to create great [content] for audiences in the rapidly changing digital world". In other words, television but without the 'tele' bit being a foregone conclusion - any form of visual media which delivers the BBC's public purposes is potentially on the cards. The Multiplatform department within BBC Vision is tasked with leading the group into the shiny multiplatform future, on the web, on mobile, on interactive TV and on other 'new platforms' (games consoles for example).

So, what does that BBC Vision's internet portfolio comprise? Well, there's the TV component of BBC Programmes, which automatically generates a page for every episode of every BBC TV and radio programme (176,000 pages and counting). There's also a constellation of enhanced or '360' programme sites which build on the foundation of the automated episode pages to provide more immersive and interactive brand experiences. These span all genres: Drama (e.g. Doctor Who, Heroes, Torchwood), Entertainment (e.g. The Apprentice, Last Choir Standing, Dragon's Den), Comedy (e.g. Have I Got News For You, The Mighty Boosh), Documentary (e.g. Bruce Parry's Amazon, Britain From Above), Science and Nature (e.g. Springwatch, Oceans), Arts & Culture (e.g. The Culture Show, Liverpool 08), Music (e.g. Maestro, T in the Park, Pop on Trial), Food (e.g. Chinese Food Made Easy), Gardening (e.g. Garderners' World, Chelsea Flower Show), Religion (e.g. The Passion), Childrens (e.g. M.I. High, Funky Fables) and no doubt a few others I've forgotten.

The portfolio also includes a growing number of properties made specially for the web, such as Mark Kermode's new video blog, Kermode Uncut (see earlier post) or Bloom which promises "smart choices for the carbon conscious". For children there are products like Me and My Movie, MyCBBC and Adventure Rock, whilst for teens there's the BBC Switch offer, which includes the innovative Sound Index and interactive online dramas Signs of Life and Meta4orce. In the Learning domain there are evergreen products like Languages, Blast, Bitesize and Ouch! and shorter-term campaigns such as Thread, Headroom and Bare Facts.

As well as content destinations, the portfolio also comprises a range of navigational/discovery aides such as the TV homepage and sites for the main TV channels: BBC ONE, BBC TWO, BBC THREE, BBC FOUR, BBC HD, CBBC and CBeebies (BBC Parliament and the BBC News channel are looked after by BBC Journalism). It also encompasses a suite of genre portals (Arts and Culture, Comedy, Drama, Entertainment, Ethics, Family History, Film, Food, Gardening, Health, History, Lifestyle, Parenting, Religion, Science and Nature), modules on relevant Topics pages (see earlier post), as well as aggregations around seasons (e.g. White Season, Beauty Season).

And last but not least, there's a small product you might have heard of called BBC iPlayer (although this is currently managed by the BBC's central Future Media & Technology team).

So that's the portfolio. As for the Senior Executive bit of my job title, I'm still working that out... ;-)

It's worth noting that every site mentioned above has/will have launched/relaunched in the 12 months since my boss, Simon Nelson, unveiled Vision's new multiplatform strategy in September of last year. Not a bad year's work imho...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr T, I am very proud ;o) Well done you.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Dan. A usefully pithy explanation for me to use when people ask what my brother does...

Kaira said...

Good work.