Like Nowhere Else

The BBC's recent efforts to win back the youth with the "Like Nowhere Else" BBC iPlayer campaign have already been documented, but I just wanted to highlight the latest video, which popped up before MOTD last night:



Yeah... I'm not sure veering hard left into a rabbit-hole of cringe is the answer.

The headline "live + on demand, like nowhere else" doesn't strike me as the USP they seem to think it is?

The content gets lost in a sea of in-jokes and surreality. Fine if you're already sold on the shows, mildly annoying if you're looking to be sold on iPlayer as a destination.

For a fantastic example of a streaming service that communicates to its audience clearly, slickly and places confidence in the content above all else, see All4.

Frankly, it's a mess, like a lot of other things at the BBC these days.

The very start also references BBC Sport graphics which were first used over a decade ago, and stopped being used in 2014.

While I have stated my opinion on this a few months ago when the campaign was still new, this is just ridiculous.

All4 has done a fantastic job at marketing itself, having content from Adult Swim and adopting anime on it's service to keep up with it's audience and allowing viewers to pay for an ad-free service (All4+) which it's audience would more than happily pay for. It's Channel 4 at it's best. ITV Hub does the same thing and doesn't have that much of an impact, but there still are viewers who use it to catch up on soaps like Coronation Street and I'm a Celebrity.

BBC on the other hand, you can tell how much they're desperate to re-gain that audience. They haven't updated the iPlayer to reflect the changing times, since it still feels like a 2014 website with no bells or whistles and they still try to push BBC Three despite the fact that it's clearly not working. They've stagnated. Audiences will still watch some shows that they offer (mainly out of willingness and spite), but the likelihood is that new viewers will just tune out of this expensive and ridiculously misspent campaign when really they could've invested money in updating the iPlayer and creating OTT internet services for it's sport coverage and BBC Three.

Well that bit is arguably true, I've not tried Sky's but in my experience iPlayer is the best out of the non-linear services provided by the in terms of usability and reliability

You are spot on! Plus I am one of those who tuned out, because of this ridiculous campaign

On the contrary, I'd argue that iPlayer is still something of a gold standard as far as VOD services go. Certainly amongst broadcasters it is leagues ahead of the rest, being unriddled with adverts, quick and straightforward to use and integrating nicely with services such as Apple AirPlay and Google casting. Accessibility is generally also much better with iPlayer IMO, with some shows providing AD and the subtitles being highly customisable.

The addition of shows for a full year or more on iPlayer has also bolstered the library nicely, and whilst not perfect I think they've generally moved well to accommodate the change from iPlayer being aimed at catch-up to being a broader VOD service. I do accept though that it isn't perfect! For example, the splitting of show pages into individual series is nicely and neatly done where it appears, but it doesn't seem to have made it to every platform yet, and so in some cases with shows that have had multiple series you're left scrolling through a long list of episodes with no distinction between series etc.

In comparison, unless you stump up for the paid versions ITV Hub, All4 and Demand5 make you sit through a huge load of ads and ultimately provide a worse user experience. ITV Hub has certainly improved but still isn't perfect, whilst the less said about All4's SD content and the massive white bar that appears at the bottom of full-screen video if your screen dares to not be 16:9 the better! The implementation of subtitles etc is also quite ropey across the other broadcasters - ISTR that if you cast All4 content then you lose the option for subtitles altogether.

With regard to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video etc, whilst they are generally more fully-featured services I still find that if something is on iPlayer AND Netflix I usually gravitate towards watching it on iPlayer, as whilst simpler I find it quicker to use if you know what you're searching for. I'd also say that iPlayer is superior to NowTV in general, which on desktop (Mac at least) still requires a separate piece of software to actually watch anything, features a half-baked casting implementation and also doesn't seem to have a normal homepage!



I'm sure your dislike for iPlayer is more connected to that fact that it's where BBC Three lives, rather than being a proper broadcast channel anymore...

I agree.

You must have very high standards if you think BBC iPlayer is so bad..

I live in Italy, and the Italian counterpart of our public service, RAI Play from RAI, is full of adverts and bad in general.

And BBC Three HAS a reason to exist , albeit as an an OTT service , like catering younger audiences, and still not having a gap between Two and Four, which otherwise would look odd.

I don't understand the hate for Three, I'd love to see it back as a linear channel, if anything. At the end of the day, it's just of way of grouping of "younger" content.

And the money would be still spent on them anyway, since BBC has to produce content for a younger audience too, of course.

This is not to say BBC doesn't have issues, especially at a graphic level, but not so much programming-wise

Sorry, to clarify, are you saying that you have stopped using iPlayer because of the current advertising campaign?

No, I stopped using it for other reasons.......but this campaign puts me off of ever using it again

In a way you are correct, but it's not only because of that

It's not that I hate BBC Three, I really want it to return as a TV channel, but it angers me the fact that the BBC closed the channel and put it on iplayer, even though they were warned that it would be a catastrophic move, and it would lead to the loss of many viewers,and this is exactly what happened, and it's been proven https://www.mediamole.co.uk/entertainment/broadcasting/news/new-research-supports-argument-for-restoration-of-bbc-three-as-tv-channel_413613.html Just as JetixFann450 said earlier, this strategy with pushing BBC Three failed completely, this way of making content for younger people like me has failed completely, this is what makes me angry, it's not any sort of hate against BBC Three....anyway I apologise for going off-topic, but I felt I had to kindly explain this to Kunst. That is all, anyway I am off to sleep now, goodnight