BBC online - part four

Part I here, part II here, part III here.

So, how successful can the BBC be? Currently the core elements of the BBC's strategy are:

• Build web-scale reach by encouraging applications built via Backstage and RSS.
• Promote RSS to users.
• Become a major distributor of video content through iMP (whatever incarnation that may ultimately take).

Since I started this series, the BBC has announced some stuff about community (via Lloyd, an important source for anyone following the UK web industry). This is very interesting, I am going to leave this for the fifth and last section, about risks and opportunities.

Build web-scale reach by encouraging applications built via Backstage and RSS

This is the core part of the strategy, without which everything else is a moot point. So far, not much has been built off the back of BBC content. Some of what has been built, such as news and sport, has been left a tad unattended. The blog has not been updated for a month. The same goes for the new ideas. There is some reassuring activity in the creation of new prototypes.

Let us assume that the development of applications will take off, how popular would it be? For a dubious analogy, US website housingmaps.com is probably the most popular application built on top of Google Maps. Its Alexa data suggests that it is receiving around 7-9,000 visitors per day. Its daily reach per million (which eliminates the effect of the US being bigger than the UK) is about a third that of primelocation.com. That could be interpreted both ways but is more positive than negative (new site, gets a third of primelocation's per-million traffic, with no marketing budget and no startup costs). It does at least show potential, which a company like the BBC should be able to exploit.

So far, however, this part of the BBC strategy is stuttering. There are reasons - it is only two months old, the BBC cannot force applications to be developed, and the BBC has not promoted any from within its own site, which will be a, perhaps slightly controversial, necessity. But it remains the case that the level of activity needs to rise. Verdict: waiting for something to happen.

Promote RSS to users

The BBC has been promoting use of RSS aggressively, particularly on the flagship news and sports websites (although important sites such as the weather, and radio, do not have RSS). I suspect this has had limited success - the RSS pages do not show up on Nielsen NetRatings data. Bloglines points to 95 subscribers for the UK news feed (Boing Boing has 30,000). Such data is not authoritative, but a content source the size of the BBC should be appearing as more than a blip on even unauthoritative radars. So, this part of the strategy is not a success. The BBC could not have known that before it started on the RSS path, and it was a tactic worth trying. The failure is not really a case of bad planning or execution, but either way, RSS cannot be justified on its current usage.

In fact, the failure of RSS as a subscription method for users does not really matter. RSS cannot be justified within the main strategy at all because even as a wild success it would mainly provide further service to existing users, and not expand the BBC's reach. It is not core to the strategy described above of turning the BBC into a world class property. However, the BBC will benefit from enabling RSS whether its users subscribe or not, because it will help power the applications that the BBC is hoping will begin to appear. The real value of RSS is what will happen behind the scenes, not front-end subscriptions. Verdict: neutral.

Become a major distributor of video content through iMP (whatever incarnation that may ultimately take)

The BBC's media player has yet to appear but this is not what will take the BBC from UK class to world class. I am sure that the BBC's previous efforts at showing off its archive content have met with moderate interest, certainly nothing that would give it the kind of new global audience which the BBC needs. And the market is heating up - Yahoo, Google, Real Networks and most UK ISPs have either already been targeting users with video content and video players, or have one eye out waiting for the right time. Verdict: nothing to verdictize yet, but neutral.

Conclusion: waiting for something real to happen

The BBC remains at the same crossroads: if it is going to continue as a great British brand within this one market, then it can do what it likes and it won't matter much one way or the other. The business upside is limited, the audience upside is limited since the BBC is already a leading destination, so sure, launch whatever, the boat won't be rocked too much. If the BBC wants to step up to the status of leading global brand, it needs to execute more aggressively on its plans. Perhaps this execution is already on its way - it is early days yet. The effects of the BBC's moves so far are inconclusive. The strategy is still taking shape. Nonetheless, the BBC needs to take advantage of this formative stage to get some serious organisational and marketing muscle behind the various elements.

UPDATE: The BBC Backstage email group for discussing API ideas is very active.