BBC Weighs AI Recommendations and YouTube Content for iPlayer
BBC director general Matt Brittin presented possible iPlayer changes during an all-staff meeting, including AI-assisted recommendations and a version featuring…
The BBC is considering how to make its programmes easier to find as it faces questions over planned job cuts. Director general Matt Brittin presented possible changes to iPlayer at an all-staff meeting, including AI-assisted recommendations and a version of the platform featuring BBC YouTube content.
The discussion came as employees challenged whether frontline and junior staff were bearing too much of the impact of plans to cut up to 2,000 jobs. Brittin said the BBC would become smaller but could still have a bigger impact, according to The Guardian’s account of the meeting.
The iPlayer changes remain proposals. A demonstration included an AI feature called “Iggy”, which can recommend content, and a version of iPlayer featuring BBC material from YouTube, including the World Service. The Guardian reported that the World Service has more than 2 million YouTube subscribers.
Brittin said he wanted the BBC to be prominent on platforms including YouTube, Netflix and Amazon Prime. He also described his aim for the service as “iPlayer and chill”.
For viewers, the ideas point to possible changes in how BBC programmes are recommended and presented on iPlayer, alongside content carried on other platforms. The report did not confirm that the features would be introduced or give a launch date.
iPlayer proposals presented as staff question cuts
Staff questions focused on whether senior leadership was being spared while junior employees faced job losses. One staff member called the BBC “an incredibly top-heavy organisation” and added: “All the ‘doers’ are getting cut.”
Another question referred to a Guardian report about low morale and asked how executives planned to address it during the financial crisis. Employees also raised the reversal of a promise of jobs to a group of BBC apprentices, who were facing redundancy.
Brittin disputed the suggestion that low morale described the whole workforce. He said uncertainty affected employees, but described staff as motivated and proud to work for the BBC.
Anna Foster, the Radio 4 Today programme presenter who hosted the meeting, asked Brittin about concerns that cuts were landing disproportionately on junior employees rather than people in managerial roles.
Rhodri Talfan Davies, the BBC’s deputy director general, said the changes would reach all levels of the organisation. He said there was no group of senior leaders excluded from the process and said some of the steepest reductions might be at the most senior levels.
The BBC has announced cuts across news, local content and its media technology division, The Guardian reported. Further announcements were expected in the days after the meeting.
The Guardian also reported that BBC Three and BBC Scotland could close as part of efforts to ease the BBC’s financial pressures. The report said the possible channel changes were not confirmed as final decisions.
The government and the BBC are also looking at a plan that would require people who watch any streaming service to pay the BBC licence fee. The stated aim is to address a fall in the number of households paying it.
In the staff meeting, Brittin said the BBC needed to be “a bit more Elvis – a little less conversation, a little more action”.
Source: bbc.com
