YouTube has struck what looks to be a model deal with the BBC to provide short clips on three new YouTube channels – one for news and two for entertainment. In exchange for providing content, the BBC will get a share of the advertising revenue generated by traffic to the new YouTube channels. Unlike some broadcasters (hello Viacom), the BBC seems to understand that YouTube is a great promotional vehicle that could expand their audience in the UK and beyond. Indeed, this is not the first time the British broadcaster has been somewhat ahead of the game in exploring new ways to harness the web 2.0.
Through its Backstage project, the BBC invited developers to create new prototype services built around BBC content feeds like news, weather, and traffic. It hopes users will help develop innovative offerings, like new ways to search and navigate BBC content, and perhaps even new revenue streams (though at the moment all Web services are strictly for non-commercial use).
A sister BBC initiative called the Creative Archive is opening up portions of the vast BBC content archive—which includes the largest television library in the world. The public is free to use this content as they like, again for non-commercial purposes. The YouTube deal seems like a nature extension of this initiative.
What’s encouraging about these initiatives is that a large, mature organization like the BBC now recognizes that it is sitting on a deep wealth of content and a broad media platform that spans across the Web, radio, and television—a platform that will only becomes more valuable as members of the community build on it. Other media organizations would do well to follow the BBC’s example.
More details of the deal can be found on the BBC website.
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