TV bosses plan to pull in teen viewers by screening shows on Bebo

Teenagers are increasingly preferring social netwroking sites to television
12 April 2012

Broadcasters desperate to attract waning teenage audiences have signed a deal to upload programmes onto social networking site Bebo.

The BBC and Channel 4 are among those who will show clips on Bebo, the free on-line community founded in 2005 which has a worldwide membership of more than 40 million, in the first deal of it's kind.

Clips from Strictly Come Dancing, Robin Hood and the Mighty Boosh will be available on a BBC-branded Bebo page launched on Tuesday, known as a 'channel'.

Younger viewers now spending more time looking at internet sites than watching TV with the average Bebo user spending 40 minutes a day on the website alone.

ITN, BSkyB, MTV and CBS are among the other broadcasters who have put free clips on Bebo, which is hugely popular with 13 to 24-year-olds.

Their pages will carry their own advertising, for which they will be able to retain all revenues.

Content could include preview clips, behind-the-scenes footage, whole episodes, or first episodes to drum up interest in new shows before they launch.

Earlier this year, the BBC announced plans to put content from shows like Doctor Who and Life on Mars on video sharing website YouTube.

But today's deal is said to be the first of its kind with a social-networking company.

A Bebo spokesman said: 'Young people are not watching television. They are watching less and less television than any other generation.

'Broadcasters want to reach that generation and reach them where they spend most of their time.

'The benefit to broadcasters is they get their content in front of that difficult to reach 13 to 24-year-old demographic, who are not watching television.'

BBC Director of Future Media and Technology Ashley Highfield described the venture as 'another avenue to reach a wider audience and in particular engage with younger viewers'.

News provider ITN has targeted Bebo users with clips of showbiz news and gossip, wacky stories from around the world, sports news and Bollywood news stories.

Managing Director of ITN Nicholas Wheeler said: 'We're offering a range of content in the celebrity and quirky genres and look forward to offering bespoke video.'

Industry insiders are tipping Channel 4 to upload teen soap Hollyoaks as well as create Bebo accounts for series characters that teenagers can make friends with on their profile.

Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan said: 'We are constantly looking for innovative ways to promote our shows and to engage our audiences. This is particularly pertinent for our high quantity of younger viewers.'

Ashley Highfield, the BBC's director of Future Media and Technology, described the new means of showing content as "a fantastic new initiative that offers the BBC another avenue to reach a wider audience and in particular engage with younger viewers."

There are 10.7 million regular Bebo users in the UK.

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