Ah, the possibilities of online… Every time I blink there’s another brand/product on the virtual bandwagon. Or should that be brandwagon. This week, it’s all about the BBC…
Making radio much more than audio
Prompted by the NMA, I’ve just been taking a look round the BBC Radio 5 live site. I’m pleased to report it’s packed full of audio (no surprises there then) plus video, plenty of images and all the usual social media suspects. Nice. It seems that “Now we’re talking. Online, On Digital TV, On Digital Radio” is an appropriate tagline.
Making the real drama online
This week, the BBC announced that it’s launching Eastenders’ first spin-off series, ‘Eastenders: E20’ in January 2010. With one Google and one click, The Guardian reliably informed me that EastEnders: E20, is being created by thirteen young writers aged 17-22 and will focus on the lives of four entirely new teenage characters with crossovers with the regular Albert Square cast. What’s really interesting is that each of the thirteen episodes, which will immediately follow the televisual Eastenders, will be broadcast online – and in fact the whole series will only be available via the web.
Creating plenty of reasons to log on
To say the BBC’s onto a good thing with its use of online media is like saying, “That Richard Branson, he does alright for himself.” Needless to say, the EastEnders website promises “the latest news from the show, introductions to new characters, access to exclusive behind the scenes footage and on set videos, plus all the episodes”. Good stuff. With heaps more online material, blogs, video, podcasts, mobile and doubtless much, much more, providing audiences with real incentive to visit and interact with the site regularly. Let’s hope it’s sticky.
With “arguably the biggest foray into online drama in the UK”, the obvious question is, who will follow?
Til next week, Digiteers. Much stickiness to you.