A big week at BBC Switch
So, this has been a pretty big week for us at BBC Switch. After 3 months of development we launched the revamped Switch portal. This is a big step up for us as it is now sitting on the new Forge directory. Forge supports dynamic, database-driven services rather than static page-based services and an infrastructure that includes new hardware, systems and updated technology. It is also powered on the PAL layer by PHP. All this is good news for us developers; and those maintaining and updating the portal. It is now much easier to discover our content across various platforms and should make for a much improved user experience for our teenage audience. The lead developer for this was the very talented Charlie Rogers.
A unique feature of this portal is that it has a dynamic “live” state. What this means is that the page will automatically broadcast our online content like The 5:19 Show during the week and simulcast BBC Two when BBC Switch content is being played out on Saturday afternoons (from roughly midday – it varies.)
BBC Switch revamped portal
It is very feed based and alot of the dynamic behaviour on the server side is made possible by manipulating the iPlayer and Programmes feeds based on our Switch branded content across BBC Two and Radio 1. On the client side, there’s quite a bit of lovely Glow to make the live transitions etc.
This week also marks the return of our TV zone with The 5:19 Show making the move from online to BBC Two. It’s just as random and funny but now with even better guests thanks to the lure of TV exposure. You can catch the show again on the The 5:19 Show programmes page.
We also have several new TV shows starting in the Saturday zone. We have a new comedy about starting university called Off The Hook, it’s very funny and is also available to watch online. This was piloted last year as Fresh as an online only series, and went down very well with the audience. It reminds me very much of those heady first few weeks at Uni and I’m also quite keen on the hot Irish girl featured. This is also being shown on BBC Three which should help promote the Switch brand to a wider audience.
Chartjackers is an exciting project using YouTube celebs to attempt to well.. hijack the charts and get a collaborative single to number one, using the YouTube community. These guys are very well know individually for their vlogging talents and have approx 35,000 subscribers each! It’ll be very interesting to see how their project pans out over the coming weeks.
And finally, tonight sees the launch of The Cut, the new soap series, initially played out online every weekday, followed by a weekly omnibus on BBC Two. As this has been an in-house production, I’ve seen the huge effort put in by the production team and have to say, having seen the first couple of episodes, it’s very slick indeed. Set and filmed with five miles of Switch HQ, it’s very fast paced and includes lots of new music from BBC Introducing. In this vein, if you are a young aspiring musician, you may also get your music featured in the show. We are also putting in a big effort online, offering a backstage insight via The Cut Blog and by offering users to take away an embeddable widget to stick on their third party spaces. This helps us push relevant content to users who want it and helps increase exposure to their friends.
The Cut website
All in all, exciting times indeed!
