´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer: series stacking
Our catch-up TV offer just got a whole lot smarter, thanks to the introduction of the series stacking feature on ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer and programme sites on bbc.co.uk.
We first announced this during last month's Edinburgh TV Festival [see earlier post], where we also talked about plans for live streaming of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s TV channels - all part of making our programmes and channels available when, where and how audiences want them.
Series stacking, which starts rolling out this week, extends the availability window of selected series from the standard seven days to the lifetime of the series while on air, up to 13 weeks after transmission of the first episode.
It might seem like a difficult concept to get your head around but the reality is altogether more simple: you can now feast on multiple episodes from the same series for longer.
Unlike a , which requires viewers to know what they want to record in advance of it being shown, stacking lets you join a series part way through its run and catch up not just on the most recent episode, but on earlier ones too.
We expect that this will appeal most to viewers who've heard about a series from friends or colleagues, or read about it in the papers, and can now go back to the start and see it all the way through.
We also expect that many of the programmes already available for seven-day catch-up on iPlayer will prove as popular when offered for longer as a series stack. While viewers can look forward to stacked episodes of their favourite comedies, dramas and factual programmes, we're also hoping they'll be able to enjoy a broader range from across our channels and genres. Imagine, for example, being able to watch a series helping you to learn a new language or skill, at your own pace.
Not everything will be stacked: the offer is restricted to 15% of all content offered on demand, something the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Trust determined in its permissions and approvals, granted in April 2007.
We'll be stacking just first-run series and we've also taken the decision not to include soaps, news bulletins, review-based programmes and single events - because of the types of programmes these are and, for the first two categories, the number of times they're on every week. We'll also be excluding programmes containing material of a legal nature, such as Crimewatch - in case this could prejudice court proceedings.
Series stacking will initially be available for streamed programmes on ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer and via bbc.co.uk programme sites. My colleague Dan Taylor discusses more about what we're doing on these here.
We're working on extending this to downloadable programmes and the iPlayer for TV platforms (currently available to all Virgin Media customers). I'll post again when these are ready to go.
This isn't a true Long Tail offer, as we're merely extending the availability of stacked series for slightly longer than the standard seven-day catch-up window.
But it will be interesting to see how this stretched availability window resonates with audiences and helps them discover not only programmes they might otherwise have missed, but also more episodes of both what they already enjoy and those hidden gems.
We're always keen to hear about what you think of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s evolving TV on-demand offer, so please use the comment box below.
Troy is Business Manager, Multiplatform & Portfolio, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Vision and the editorial architect of series stacking.
Comment number 1.
At 17th Sep 2008, silverfoxuk wrote:Are there plans to extend the iPlayer facility (currently availabe on Cable) to Satellite (eg FreeSat or Sky)?
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Comment number 2.
At 18th Sep 2008, Briantist wrote:#1 Only the Freesat boxes have the necessary Ethernet port to allow them to do this. Sky's decade-old technology won't do.
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Comment number 3.
At 18th Sep 2008, ArmchairEmma wrote:Why isn't QI put on to ´óÏó´«Ã½i? I can't watch it in its proper slot so, since with ´óÏó´«Ã½i and CatchUp TV I've stopped recording anything, I never get to see it now. What has happened?
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Comment number 4.
At 18th Sep 2008, Digital Elysium wrote:#2:
Sky HD boxes have an Ethernet port.
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Comment number 5.
At 18th Sep 2008, NickReynolds wrote:ArmchairEmma - I've been told that the current series of QI on ´óÏó´«Ã½ TWO is a repeat and the ´óÏó´«Ã½ does not have the necessary rights clearances to show it on-demand.
Nick Reynolds (editor, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Internet blog)
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Comment number 6.
At 18th Sep 2008, alex wrote:This is great. What I would really be interested in, though, is the ability to see some of the stuff from the vast archives. e.g. some random edition of the 6 o'clock news from 1973 etc
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Comment number 7.
At 12th Oct 2008, LUFCRACE wrote:a fantastic addition to an already fantastic product.
what I would like to see is a feature where you can set iplayer to automatically download every episode in a series, or individual programmes, like subscribing to a podcast.
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Comment number 8.
At 13th Jun 2009, U14033173 wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 9.
At 9th Sep 2009, felicioo wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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