Radio 1 launching iPlayer channel
November 4, 2014
Radio 1 will launch its own video channel on the BBC’s iPlayer on November 10th streaming live music, documentaries and game shows as it steps up its battle for the attention of the YouTube generation.
The station will put up to two programmes a day on the iPlayer channel, which is intended to reverse a decline in listening among its target audience of 15 to 29-year-olds and use it as a “gateway” to introduce younger people to other BBC content.
Media regulator Ofcom said the new service was most likely to impact on local radio and specialist music websites, but the BBC Trust, in giving the go ahead for the Radio 1 on demand service, said the commercial fallout from the channel was not significant enough to justify a full-scale public value test.
The new service, which will feature Radio 1’s Live Lounge and live streaming from events such as its Big Weekend concerts and Teen Awards, is expected to generate an extra 310,000 hours of viewing per month.
Radio 1 will put up to two new pieces of content a day on the channel, with a typical month featuring 26 video editions of the Live Lounge and one 20-minute documentary or magazine programme. A 60-minute filmed Radio 1 interview will go out once every other month, with the broadcast of four flagship live events a year.