BBC Worldwide: Marketing "Britishness"

My research involves the U.K.-based British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). I focus specifically on the company's BBC Worldwide branch which markets U.K.-made programs throughout the world. For this paper, the difficulties encountered in marketing these programs in the United States and public response to BBC America programming are our primary interests.

The BBC, a publicly funded entity, is well known for its high-brow programming and public service orientation. The BBC's domestic service is a commercial-free, non-profit enterprise. However, the company's subsidiary, BBC Worldwide, is a strictly commercial, for-profit concern whose profits, made entirely outside the United Kingdom, supplement the domestic BBC radio and television services.

One of the first BBC Worldwide successes (after New Zealand and Australia, longtime consumers of BBC programming) was BBC America. Introduced in 1998 as a cable/satellite channel, the station airs "classic" British shows such as "Benny Hill" and "Monty Python's Flying Circus" which are well-known to American audiences. In addition, slightly newer offerings like "Changing Rooms" and "The Office," both of which have been reinvented as American shows, are broadcast.

While the content offered on BBC America is nearly identical to that offered in Britain, the American format requires room for plenty of advertising. The standard 40-minute British sitcoms are run in their entirety, with five to seven minutes blocked out at the beginning and end for commercials. A few shows, however, have a shortened run-time, allowing for American-type commercial interruption.

The most significant difference in BBC and BBC America marketing is the number of add-on products marketed to American viewers, both on the BBC America cable channel and on its companion website. The American website is mainly a storefront for BBC America products, such as mugs, duffel bags and coasters adorned with the names of popular BBC programs. The BBC's official domestic site and its BBC Canada and (now defunct) BBC Japan site offer no such merchandise.