The UK’s leading TV catch-up brand is having a weird global launch. After debuting on iPad only in 11 European countries this July for €6.99 a month or €49.99 a year, it will now go to Australia.
“Australia is going to be the next market,” a BBC Worldwide spokesperson tells paidContent, confirming earlier reports from C21 and The Register, which puts the local fee at A$9.49 per month or A$89.99 a year.
What about the U.S.? “Our timelines are always changing. It is our intention to launch there,” the spokesperson says.
Right now, the global iPlayer is still in a “pilot” phase. BBC Worldwide is not disclosing the subscriber count for the two-month-old product but claims to paidContent it is “exceeding all targets”.
Though iPlayer in the UK, funded by the license payer, makes available TV and radio shows from the last week, the overseas proposition, executed by BBC Worldwide, is different. There, the idea is to take ome of the key programming for which BBC Worldwide has rights to a global audience – and to ask money for the privilege.
BBC Worldwide has found some success syndicating its shows as transactional VOD through places iTunes Store and Blinkbox. But it has seemed to eschew super-aggregators like Hulu, instead preferring to launch its own-brand product in the belief the BBC brand has plenty of traction around the world.