Review of services: New Media 36 Annual Report and Accounts 2001/2002 The past year has seen major advances for BBC New Media, with the creation of BBCi bringing together previously separate services, the launch of ground-breaking interactive digital television and substantial growth in traffic to the BBCi website. Above:Walking with Beasts caught viewers’ imagination and extended their involvement through enhanced interactivity. Right: Kitchen tips from BBCi. BBCi on the web The BBC’s web strategy aims to foster a range of distinct digital communities, providing them with information and interaction. 250 message boards are now live on the site, attracting 250,000 messages a month, and live online chats are providing unique access to celebrities and experts.The local dimension of BBCi has also expanded during the past year with websites for Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland as well as 37 Where I Live sites now live across England. The sites created for major BBC programmes such as Walking with Beasts, Living with Cancer and Blood of the Vikings fulfil two aims.They provide added value to audiences watching or listening to major programmes or series and also strengthen the online content that is available in key categories such as learning, health, science and history. The whole BBCi website was radically remodelled in November 2001, making it easier to use and providing for the first time a consistent look, common navigation principles and search facilities across all pages and sections of the site. Over the past year traffic to the BBC’s website has continued to grow, with reach among internet users rising from 28.7% to 34% and monthly page impressions (PIs) from 322 million in March 2001 to 549 million in March 2002. BBCi’s achievements were widely recognised by both the new media press and by the industry during 2001/2002. Nine major awards were won, including two BAFTAs, a Promax, an EMMA, a Sports Industry Award and the Prix Europa (for the BBC Radio 1 website). BBCi on television BBCi aims to create high-quality, innovative interactive services across all digital television platforms.These have already been used by over eight million viewers.The first major event, Wimbledon Interactive last June, offered viewers a choice of five different live matches and was watched by 4.5 million viewers. It was followed by other major sports events: the Open Golf from Royal Lytham, the Winter Olympics from Salt Lake City and the FA Cup. BBC Children in Need broke new ground this year when interactive television enabled viewers to make donations from their armchairs with a click of the remote control, raising over £500,000 in this way. Other entertainment innovations have included Top of the Pops, The Saturday Show and Antiques Roadshow, all offering users new kinds of choice and interactivity. In January 2002 BBCi enabled the English Regions to introduce an interactive application offering digital satellite viewers a choice of five different regional news programmes.The six remaining services will be added before the end of 2002. Over 100 different interactive applications have been launched in the course of the year. BBC News Interactive provides multistreams of the day’s major news stories and was watched by three million viewers in its first six weeks on air. Other roundthe- clock services include CBeebies games and information and education offerings such as travelcams and GCSE Bitesize on digital cable platforms. New technologies BBC New Media’s search for innovative ways of using new technology never stops. A BBC partnership involving the Factual & Learning division and the BBC’s Yorkshire region is developing pioneering community and learning services for people in the Hull area served by a local broadband infrastructure as yet unique in the UK. During the past year BBC broadband content has also been provided to Freeserve,Telewest and AOL subscribers (ensuring that it is only distributed to licence payers in this country) and a new WAP service supplying news, sport and listings to mobile phone users was launched. Logging on The BBCi website is the most visited content site in Europe Monthly BBCi website page impressions March 2001 to March 2002 (millions) Source: BBC server logs. Only divisions with over 60 million page impressions at March 2002 are shown. * Other includes Radio and Music,World Service, Nations and Regions and Homepage. M F J D N O S A J J M A M 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 ¦ Other ¦ Drama, Entertainment and Children’s ¦ Sport ¦ Factual & Learning ¦ News 37 The Saturday Show goes interactive with Nihal.