BBC Worldwide focuses on younger audiences
August 22, 2016
BBC Three’s upcoming premiere of the BBC Worldwide-commissioned five-part digital-first travelogue cum photography series Mission Selfie, marks the commercial arm of the BBC’s debut with content specifically produced for online and mobile platforms in order to target younger audiences.
Fronted by social media stars Ben Brown and Steve Booker, the series explodes the shallowness of the selfie craze, encouraging the audience to turn the camera around and capture the world surrounding them.
As well as enhancing its factual entertainment slate, BBC Worldwide also has international distribution rights for the series. Produced by The Narrative, each 15-minute episode features social talent both in front of and behind the camera and follows the friends as they travel to international locations in search of the one photograph that sums up their experience, taking in awe-inspiring landscapes, abandoned towns and futuristic cityscapes along the way. In each location the boys are presented with a photography mission inspired by a hashtag challenge, encouraging audiences to engage beyond the show.
Mission Selfie highlights a new evolution of content makers who intuitively understand their target audience and practice innovative storytelling techniques. With a new generation of digital talent graduating and joining production companies and broadcasters with new ideas of agile production methods – they are turning YouTube into the world’s biggest film school and proving it’s not just a platform to view content on.
BBC Worldwide has previously collaborated with YouTube talent for the Fact Ent slate with Stupid Man Smart Phone, a BBC Worldwide commission co-produced by BBC Three, as well as the DVD project Joe & Caspar Hit the Road.
Stuart Wettenhall, Digital Partnerships at BBC Worldwide says: “The traditional broadcast market globally has to better engage younger viewers through creating content that extends the conversation beyond linear. We’re thrilled to be working with BBC Three and the Narrative on Mission Selfie. From a talent and audience engagement perspective, this digital first series has social discovery elements within its DNA, but continues the BBC’s tradition of emotive and innovative storytelling.”
Andrea Olsson, Head of Factual Entertainment at BBC Worldwide commented “Mission Selfie has allowed us to experiment with form and style while using the established format of a travel adventure series. It has been great working with this team of new generation content creators – Narrative, Ben and Steve inherently understand the audience demographic that we’re looking to engage.”