BBC pulls up at the YouTube platform

Chris Khouri, media and broadcasting associate analyst with Europe's leading market analyst, Datamonitor, in this exclusive analysis for domain-b, explains why the BBC is moving away from its position as a publicly funded broadcaster and becoming a more commercially focused organisation.

Chris KhouriThe British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) recently announced the launch of a deal to provide content through three channels on the web's most popular video aggregator - Google Inc's YouTube. (See: BBC ties up with Google's YouTube for internet broadcast)

As a result of this deal, two branded entertainment channels will now provide short clips of the UK public service broadcaster's content on the internet. BBC has also announced its intention to launch a news-oriented channel later in 2007.

The move will be mutually beneficial to both BBC and Google. The BBC will gain advantage from utilising alternative distribution points to promote content, derive revenue from advertisements on two of its channels and with the partnership drive online traffic back to BBC website.

The move will ultimately benefit Google through the expansion of its high-end content portfolio. This will add value to its service as the competitive environment for the online video sharing market intensifies.