BBC Worldwide

At home in the UK, it may be more commonly known as a broadcaster and online publisher that, by Royal charter, cannot carry advertising. But, elsewhere, the BBC’s commercial arm has built on its heritage of traditional ad sales by launching a sponsored content offering. BBC Worldwide launched StoryWorks back in 2015, and it now […]

CANNES — BBC News has managed to mix online video and text since the late 1990s. But why keep the two separate? Now the organization is ensuring both are on-screen at the same time, launching a product called “stick video”. “The idea is that the video player moves with you on the screen,”BBC Global News sales […]

CANNES — Over the last year, Beet.TV has been reporting on BBC Worldwide’s growing branded content initiative. Now the organization is formalising its offering in a new unit. Announced at Cannes Lions, BBC StoryWorks is the name of the content marketing that will have offices in Singapore, Sydney, New York and London and will be headed by […]

CANNES — BBC Worldwide is working with Google’s advertising divisions as they try to amalgamate how the publisher sells its TV and digital video ad inventory. “Quite a lot of our best customers are buying on television and buying online – linear and digital,” BBC Worldwide’s global strategy and sales VP Tom Bowman tells Beet.TV’s […]

LONDON — It may be forbidden from running even traditional display ads at home in the UK, but elsewhere in the world, the BBC’s commercial wing is embarking on blending marketing and editorial material, having recently embarked on sponsored content production effort. “There’s no reason why a brand … shouldn’t have a voice; anyone can […]

The BBC is known for its editorial integrity and, at least in the UK, its aversion to advertising. These facts would seem to make an embrace of the current “native advertising” trend difficult. But that’s just what BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s international, revenue-making arm, is doing. “We have a native advertising program, we’ve had a […]

LONDON — Amongst the broadcasters on AOL’s Adap.tv client roster, the BBC’s revenue-making arm has begun to sell some of its online video advertising using a programmatic system to attract higher bids. “If you’re dealing with a fixed-price IO (insertion order) business all the time, it’s very difficult to increase the rate,” Adap.tv‘s EMEA MD Brian […]

NEW YORK – Many video ad practitioners bemoan a persistent lack of quality ad space in the industry. But one exec thinks online operators should learn the value of scarcity from certain TV networks. “On BBC America, we have half the commercials as anyone else,” says BBC Worldwide digital sales EVP Mark Gall. “A lot of […]

LONDON — Programmatic online advertising technology isn’t yet good enough, and will never match human salespeople for brand ad sales. That’s according to BBC Worldwide’s strategy and operations VP for global advertising sales, Tom Bowman. “There are some websites that have gotten rid of their salespeople,” Bowman told me during our one-on-one interview at Beet.TV’s […]

LONDON – Consumers expect more advertising than is currently being shown across four major devices: mobile, tablet, PC and television, says Tom Bowman, VP of Strategy and Sales Operations for BBC Worldwide. This information comes from a survey conducted by the BBC at the end of 2012 of 3600 people across 9 countries. To qualify, participants […]

CANNES –  “Da Vinci’s Demons,” a new television series co-produced by Starz and BBC Worldwide, was screened at the MIPTV conference this week.   On the red carpet, Beet.TV spoke with the leading actress Lara Pulver about her role in the the and her upcoming role in the Ian Fleming biopic which just wrapped.