Can BBC3 embrace its new online identity?

On February 28th, BBC3 released its first online hit drama, Thirteen.

With BBC3’s initial decision to move online having been met with a great deal of scepticism and industry opposition, the reception of Thirteen would be a vital indication of the fate of the channel: if successful, it would prove that former terrestrial TV channels could thrive as online-only platforms.

On the face of it, the viewing figures for Thirteen suggest a rosy future for BBC3 online. Within 6 weeks, the series had garnered an impressive 2.4m views on iPlayer, on a par with the channel's highest ever rated terrestrial show (Dr Who spin-off Torchwood) and better even than the iPlayer figures for the Christmas special of Sherlock. Certainly BBC3 controller Damian Kavanagh was quick to bask in the glow of Thirteen's audience success. “These are early days for BBC3 but I’m overjoyed with what we’ve achieved so far,'' he said. ''It’s a marathon not a sprint but so far we’ve exceeded expectations.”

But others wonder if the channel has really embraced what it means to be online, and understood that online content is not simply TV distributed on another platform.

Internet broadcasting is, in fact, a hugely different service to television broadcasting. Whether it’s YouTube, Vice Media or Netflix it’s clear that the format and types of content occupying the online space contrast vastly from what we see on terrestrial television. It’s a service that draws audiences in by creating new, innovative content and escaping traditional rigidity of TV scheduling.

Did Thirteen feel like online content?

Although Thirteen was released as an internet series, it was, perhaps, strange that it was scheduled and formatted as if it was a TV series: each episode ran for an hour and episodes were released weekly (and then broadcast on TV seven days later). For those who love watching online, one of it’s most appealing aspects is the freedom to binge on as many hours or episodes of a programme as you like - releasing you from the suspense that comes with having to wait to find out what happens next. It’s a selling point that Netflix certainly embraces and audiences enjoy.

Even more attractive, particularly for filmmakers, is the relief from strict television time slots that internet broadcasting offers. Content isn’t forced to be cut or extended to the exact hour allowing filmmakers to make the most of their footage and providing the capacity to create and experiment with short burst 6 minute videos or longer 66 minute programs. Such possibilities are liberating - opening up new possibilities to adapt TV content to fit around daily life, whether it be watch-on-the-go short video content or long form videos. Being so structurally different, it seems obvious that internet broadcasting should behave differently to television because if you feel like you’re just watching TV on a laptop you’re perhaps not going to see the point of the whole "move online". Yet last week, BBC3 announced its first drama acquisition since the digital move - the apocalytic Australian drama, Cleverman - which follows the tried and tested broadcast format of 6 x 60 minute episodes. 

As Tony Garnett, former head of World Productions observed in Broadcast, there is, so far, "little sign of the BBC ... creatively exploring the possibilities of digital media.'' 

Filling gaps in the current market

Despite this, Thirteen's subject matter was certainly attention-grabbing, exploiting the right kind of content that makes internet broadcasting so successful. Whilst returning TV shows often have the same format series to series, popular internet programmes spark conversation and reaction, giving viewers a reason to go online, search and stream. It is the root of the success of channels such as Vice and Netflix series such as Making a Murderer and explains why BBC3 ditched shows like Family Guy. Judging by what goes viral on social media platforms, internet viewers want to engage with subjects that are exciting, daring and controversial - ones that have not been seen before and spark reaction. And with this constant demand to bring something new to the table, online platforms have open opportunities not available on TV. By exploiting and engaging with emerging talent both on and off screen, their new-form content fills the gaps that broadcast TV has left behind.

The future of BBC3

BBC3 will thrive if it embraces what it couldn’t embrace when it was a TV channel. No doubt it will. But this is what will be most interesting about it's transformation as an online channel: what it reveals about what it really means to be an internet broadcaster.