Amid rumours that behind the scenes talks are growing tense, the future for BritBox – the new streaming service from the BBC and ITV – looks a little troubled.
The FT reported this week that the two stakeholders appear to have different priorities and levels of commitment. Indeed, ITV boss Carolyn McCall was said to be in hardball mode as she seeks a good return on the £65m investment the commercial broadcaster has pledged, while the BBC appeared to be more worried about changing transmission rules for its existing service, iPlayer.
We imagine this set-up being a bit like a City trader and an elderly socialist co-owning an ice-cream van.
Yet beyond the headache of the negotiating table, BritBox faces a much bigger migraine. The market it’s entering is crowded and the competition is stiff.
US-owned Netflix and Amazon dominate, with revenues from UK customers reaching £1.1bn last year – double the amount all of the UK’s broadcasters made from their own platforms, according to Ofcom (and set to rise, with growing subscription numbers, better content and price hikes).
BritBox will seek to change that imbalance, but, arriving so late in the game, just how will it make a dent?
According to UM’s head of AV, Craig Burgess – who delivers a suggested strategy in this article – BritBox should not seek to copy the competition.
“It should be looking to leverage its USP and the thing that makes it different,” he says. “That’s its connection with traditional linear TV.”
Despite being a separate experience, BritBox must “integrate itself with linear TV and allow the two channels to complement each other and encourage viewers to try both,” Burgess says.
This could mean premiering shows on BritBox, or by providing supplemental content to linear shows on the VOD counterpart – something Sky did with Thronecast for Game of Thrones.
There are also unique possibilities for programmatic to take a starring role and deliver something new for advertisers – and in turn this could help linear TV perform better.
BritBox might be a latecomer, but ITV and the BBC still produce fantastic content – so good in fact, that Netflix both emulates and buys it. That’s a strong position to be in, and one that cannot be squandered.
As Josh Krichefski, CEO, MediaCom, says: “It will take a lot to knock [Netflix and Amazon] off the top of the leader’s table, but what the revenue growth points to is that content reigns supreme.
“It’s easy to assume that the battle for viewers is won when you look at the success of Netflix’s Our Planet and Amazon’s The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, for example.
“But British broadcasters are far from giving up the fight. BBC and ITV’s Britbox streaming platform is going to be a crucial play for audiences.”
…And part of that must surely mean an end to selling their content to the very competition it hopes to do battle with.
