Worldwide appeal

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Few broadcasters can claim to have anywhere near the kind of reach of the BBC. Despite its ubiquity and globally recognised brand, the broadcaster is striving to reach more people via the latest mobile technology.

The BBC's World Service provides programmes and content for radio as well as creating content for television and online in 32 languages. It has a network of hundreds of reporters and correspondents around the world, and delivering content over mobile devices is the latest way for the broadcaster to extend its reach even further into the region of the Middle East and Africa.

BBC World Service head of business development for the Middle East and Africa, Simon Kendall, says that mobile is crucial for reaching audiences who more than ever expect instant access to information wherever they are.

"This is particularly the case for news which is changing 24 hours a day and therefore mobile and handheld devices are increasingly the most convenient medium to get the latest developments. Mobile is clearly at the centre of the BBC's strategy and in no way seen as ‘add on'," he says.

Kendall says that one of the most popular ways for content to be consumed is via BBC World Service's mobile compatible sites, such as bbcarabic.com, which are updated regularly and form part of its "substantial" online operation.

These sites are fed with information from what Kendall describes as the largest news gathering operation in the world, and the feeds are updated every six seconds. "Audiences therefore feel, and have, an immediate connection via mobile to a brand they trust and also access via PC, radio and TV. In addition to this we offer audio packages, video bulletins and SMS."

Early service

BBC World Service began working with mobile operators distributing BBC Arabic content four years ago. As with many news content providers, initially services focused on SMS alerts. These services are still popular, Kendall says, although he says it is difficult to accurately measure unique users to BBC World Service online site via mobile users.

"We are very confident that the audience use via mobile is increasing though as we see page impressions continually growing," he says, adding that the range of ways the content can be consumed has grown "considerably" over the last couple of years.

Digital delivery and mobile in particular, is at the heart of BBC World Service's strategy. "We broadcast in 32 different languages and aim to develop our mobile offer in all of them, though individual markets are at different stages of development," Kendall says. "We have a unique connection with huge audiences - 93.5 million in Africa and the Middle East - in many countries with which trust has been built up over many years.  This means we can be a very powerful partner for operators and handset manufacturers."

Through its presence on the airwaves BBC World Service is especially interested in new ways to deliver audio services to audiences. Kendall says that Nokia recently launched a radio service in which the BBC English and Arabic Service has proved extremely popular. Listeners with internet radio-enabled mobile phones can listen to BBC World Service in English, BBC World Service's 24-hour rolling news in English, and BBC Arabic. Recent models of Nokia phones come with the pre-installed radio application which can be found in the applications menu, with BBC services listed in the station directory.

BBC World Service's website has been repurposed for mobile users, which is fundamental to the success of any content that is viewed on the small screen. Too many websites are not designed for the limited size of the mobile screen, rendering menus, links and images unusable, and websites that have not been repurposed for mobile devices also sap bandwidth.

New partners

 Kendall highlights the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan as some of the early adopters of the region. But he says that because of the wide nature of content and methods of delivery on offer, BBC World Service is in a position to satisfy different requirements from some of the less technologically advanced nations.

"We are actively pursuing partnerships across the world with mobile operators in order to ensure presence on all relevant platforms. In the Middle East at the moment we are working with more than 25 mobile network operators and making our content available to audiences in 13 countries," he says. "We want our offer available via every single operator in every single country and we are pleased that we are on course to reach that ambition.

"We believe that Sub-Saharan Africa represents a huge opportunity for mobile as it is the fastest growing mobile market in the world. This is a major opportunity for the BBC, which has a deep connection with very substantial audiences in Africa. We consider markets like Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria developing particularly rapidly," he adds.

Kendall says that the BBC wants to work with mobile operators and handset manufacturers to develop new services, portals, technology and applications that make it easier to distribute high-quality content in a cost effective and attractive way for the end user.

Like the other content providers that CommsMEA has spoken to over the past few months, Kendall says that greater collaboration amongst regulators, broadcasters and operators would help to get the best quality content to people in the easiest to use manner. With their cross-border, multi-generational appeal, sites like Facebook and Twitter could hold the key.

"We are in an age where everything is interlinked, developing rapidly and it is extremely difficult for any one organisation or industry to individually completely control a certain market. It may take some time to settle into a mutually acceptable situation for all.

"Social networking sites are extremely important to the BBC. We believe that social media will make it much easier for individual BBC programmes or services to have a closer relationship with a group or community of ‘followers' or ‘friends' who have a particular affection or want a deeper connection to their favourite programme," he adds.

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