BBC to sign historic partnership with YouTube

According to the Financial Times, the BBC and YouTube are to announce a partnership to create original programmes on the platform, which will then be broadcast on iPlayer and BBC Sounds. The announcement could come as early as next week. The tie-up represents a major breakthrough for an institution that until now has only used YouTube for trailers and promotional clips.

Targeting the younger generation

The main aim of the partnership is to win back younger audiences, who are massively turning to YouTube as their main source of television content. Programmes produced for the platform would include those produced by BBC Three, as well as children’s/teenagers’ content and sports programmes. News formats will also be developed, in a bid to combat the misinformation circulating on social networks.

According to sources close to the matter, old series could also be broadcast on YouTube, although they are not the main focus of the agreement.

A revenue diversification strategy

This agreement will enable the BBC to generate additional advertising revenue from the international broadcast of these programmes, while maintaining the commercial-free status of its public services in the UK, which are funded by the licence fee.

Faced with overwhelming competition

This initiative comes against a backdrop of fierce competition. Last December, YouTube overtook all the BBC channels for the first time in terms of UK audience, with almost 52 million viewers compared with 51 million for the public broadcaster. The success of the YouTube application on connected TV sets means that it is now a direct competitor to the traditional channels.

BBC executives have also acknowledged the need to forge partnerships with other public broadcasters in order to compete with American streaming giants such as Netflix and Disney, which have considerable financial resources at their disposal. The BBC and YouTube did not wish to comment on this information.