Australians lead BBC iPad content demand

Paul Smith

Apple happy ... Australia leads demand for BBC iPad content. Photo: Reuters

Australia has been revealed as the biggest market for the British Broadcasting Corporation’s global iPlayer application, which sells access to the BBC’s vast television archive, for viewing on Apple devices.

The pilot product, which was launched last September is only available in 16 countries in Western Europe, Canada and Australia, so the potentially large US market is yet to be tapped, but of the 16 countries, Australian sales are larger than the second and third countries (Germany and Holland) combined.

Speaking to the Annual Broadcast Summit in Sydney on Thursday morning, general manager for BBC Worldwide’s global BBC iPlayer, Matthew Littleford, said Australia accounted for 20 per cent of the product’s global revenue, 23 per cent of subscribers and 19 per cent of title downloads.

Revealing user statistics, Mr Littleford said 13 per cent of Australian users accessed the app on multiple devices and 7 per cent of subscribers didn’t have an iPad, implying that they were watching content solely on iPhones or the iPod touch.

In comparison to users elsewhere in the world, the BBC executive said Australian’s were more likely to want to view content while out of their homes.

“Australia significantly over-indexed in the use of the download-to-view offline functionality, implying that Australians are accessing content to view whilst travelling or commuting. Over a fifth of content, or 21 per cent, is being accessed in this way, compared to around 16 per cent in other territories,” he said.

In Australia the most popular genres are Science Fiction, Family and Kids, and Comedy, with Doctor Who, kids’ show Charlie and Lola and comedy Gavin and Stacey the most popular.

However Mr Littleford said that while modern shows initially drew users in, it was older archive titles such as Steptoe and Son and Yes Minister that tended to make them stay.

Australian usage patterns showed that viewing peaked at 9PM, or 7AM for childrens’ shows. Daytime viewing is higher at the weekends with around a third more viewers using the app on Saturday daytime than during the week.

Mr Littleford said detailed consumer insight, combined with direct viewer feedback, was enabling him to tailor programs and collections for the local market.

“This graphically demonstrates the fact that VOD (video on demand) gives us a unique consumer insight,” he said.

“It clearly shows how a VOD service can quickly optimise itself to different territories by simply listening to its viewers. Editorial decisions are already being made on a whole range of completely measurable new insight gained directly from existing viewer interaction and localised for each territory.”

The Australian Financial Review