Australia a priority for BBC Worldwide
Posted in Uncategorized on March 5th, 2009 by Rachael – Be the first to commentFiling from the Broadcasting Summit in Sydney this morning…
Australia was identified by BBC Worldwide CFO Neil Chugani as “one of the most important territories for BBC Worldwide across all seven of its business areas”.
The reasons for this cited by Chugani were
– English language
– cultural affinity with British product; and
– economic conditions (comparative to elsewhere)
Examples used were Top Gear, success through the localisation of TV show with SBS, the magazine in 50/50 joint venture with ACP, and the Jeremy Clarkson event at Acer Arena; and Lonely Planet, a home-grown Australian brand which has been relaunched online, integration with BBC content in a magazine and released as a Lonely Planet block on UK television.
A key focus across BBC Worldwide’s 23 global offices will be the localisation of brand product.
“Eight out of ten of our best performing shows are local versions,” Chugani said.