Major changes to Vision commissioning for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online
´óÏó´«Ã½ Online is in the process of making major changes, as we set ourselves up to deliver the new strategy outlined in January. Central to this is the emerging discipline of product management (blogged about by Chris Russell here).
From divisional websites, to pan-´óÏó´«Ã½ products: the operational challenge
This is a challenging process. Like any other media organisation born in the linear age the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has had to work out how to embrace emerging technologies to meet its purpose without throwing away what we do best.
The new strategy reflects a move away from an operational model where each ´óÏó´«Ã½ division has a website budget to support its own editorial ambitions to one more founded on partnerships. The aim is to bring technically skilled staff in ´óÏó´«Ã½ Future Media together with editorially skilled people in other divisions and ask them to create products which have a single set of objectives. This will put boundaries on what we do online, as well as create a more efficient ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online that's greater than the sum of its parts.
Along the way, this throws up acute challenges in governance, organisational structure and operations - as well as the challenge of hitting tough financial targets, and the implementation of major projects such as the move to Salford.
Yesterday's announcement to ´óÏó´«Ã½ staff
As announced in January, we expect the changes to result in around , from across the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s divisions, over a two-year period. Today, my colleagues in ´óÏó´«Ã½ Vision announced to their staff how they will be setting themselves up as part of the new ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online. This includes:
• the detail of the job cuts (confirmation that 90 - 100 posts will close by March 2012) and;
• the impact on commissioning within two ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online products: TV & iPlayer and Knowledge & Learning
A new focal point for industry at /commissioning
The existing multiplatform commissioning team will be disbanded within ´óÏó´«Ã½ Vision, with commissioning to be run at genre/ channel level.
This means that there will no longer be an overall divisional budget to spend on individual TV websites. Instead, fewer commissions will be made and they will be part of a broader creative process which more closely aligns online and linear TV commissioning. These online commissions will also be shaped by the strategy for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online's products. Victoria Jaye and Saul Nasse have outlined more details here and here. And there's more in yesterday's article in Ariel.
What this will mean for audiences
We expect this streamlined approach to deliver operational efficiencies. As a consequence, we hope, it will be far easier for third parties to work with us (this is the subject of a wider review). Also, we expect to be able to reduce investment in competing and non-interoperable technologies. And this will mean that editorial teams are free to focus their resources on providing higher-quality output which will appeal to both regular and new users of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online.
Here's of yesterday's announcement.
Andy Conroy is General Manager, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online
Comment number 1.
At 27th May 2011, Piet Boon wrote:Please, do not forget to put the audience at the center of all your plans. That means that you cannot, as was done with bbcworldservice.com, close down the website altogether and replacing it with a static programs page.
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Comment number 2.
At 27th May 2011, Kit Green wrote:I am interested how what I assume from the above is a "consolidation" of services fit in with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ research that has been looking at ways of integrating web extras with programmes.
For example:
/blogs/researchanddevelopment/2011/02/orchestrated-media---beyond-se.shtml
Is this still part of the future for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online?
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Comment number 3.
At 29th May 2011, 7knight wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 4.
At 31st May 2011, cricket-Angel Tucker wrote:Does this mean individual programmes (such as Points of View) will no longer be responsible for their online budget?
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Comment number 5.
At 31st May 2011, Small acts of defiance wrote:This was clearly written by someone for whom English is not their first language. Is it possible to have a translation?
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Comment number 6.
At 1st Jun 2011, Nick Reynolds wrote:origami Penguin - sorry if you are having trouble understanding the blog post. Are there any particular phrases in it you don't understand, where I might be able to help you?
Thanks
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Comment number 7.
At 1st Jun 2011, cricket-Angel Tucker wrote:Could you answer my questin in post 4 please, Nick?
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Comment number 8.
At 1st Jun 2011, Nick Reynolds wrote:cricket-Angel Snow - I am trying to get an answer and if I do I will post it.
Thanks
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Comment number 9.
At 3rd Jun 2011, Tim from Sandhurst wrote:5.At 15:37 31st May 2011, origami Penguin wrote:
This was clearly written by someone for whom English is not their first language. Is it possible to have a translation?
I totally agree. The whole world at present seems to be presented by people that try to hide behind their incompetence by issuing statements that are total gibberish. How stupid do they think people are?
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Comment number 10.
At 4th Jun 2011, Nick Reynolds wrote:Tim from Sandhurst - if there are phrases in the blog post which are unclear please tell me what they are as I have have already offered to help (see my comment 6). Otherwise your comment is starting to drift into off topic areas.
Thanks
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