The world?s largest social networking site
MySpace has formed a new content partnership with the British Broadcasting Corporation (
BBC).
Both new and archived video content from the BBC will be available globally on the
social networks video platform,
MySpaceTV. BBC Worldwide ? the commercial arm of the BBC ? goes live on the site today and will feature classic BBC television moments such as Parkinson interviewing Hollywood great Russell Crowe and UK pop star Robbie Williams. Snippets of classic series such as Doctor Who, The Catherine Tate Show
(pictured left) and Red Dwarf will also be available. MySpaceTV users will also be able to take embedded code so they may stream the BBC clips on their own website or blog.
Director of Digital Media at
BBC Worldwide, Simon Danker, says that the partnership is in alignment with the BBC?s online media strategy. ?The breadth of content we bring to this deal means that MySpace users will easily be able to find a favourite clip to put on their profiles and share with their friends, whether that is a Top Gear stunt or something a bit different from The Mighty Boosh. With the global nature of the deal, this is a great opportunity to put the best shows from the BBC in front of new audiences,? explains Danker.
The deal between
MySpace, owned by Rupert Murdoch?s
News Corporation and the BBC represents the first global network deal for the online community.
BBC Worldwide already has both a
YouTube Channel and a
Bebo Profile, where the same content is made available ? however only MySpaceTV users have the ability to take the video and embed on their own sites.
(BBC Worldwide channels available now on MySpaceTV pictured above)The BBC went live on Bebo in October 2007 and currently has had over 81,000 profile views whilst on YouTube (where it has been live for almost twelve months) the BBC Worldwide channel (where it has 1,600 odd videos) has had almost 1,600,000 channel views with over 27,500 subscribers (
correct at the time of writing).
BBC Worldwide content is available immediately to MySpace users.