BBC Signs Unprecedented YouTube Deal

This is, by far, the most awesome thing any TV network has ever done on YouTube: no strongarm tactics, no unsupported unofficial channels. Just good old-fashioned full-on viral marketing support.

The BBC has just signed an unprecedented deal with YouTube. Marshall Kirkpatrick summarizes the key points of the deal, to wit:

# The BBC will create two channels on YouTube now and one more by the end of the year.
# The main channel will be advertising free promotional clips of entertainment programming, designed to drive traffic to the BBC’s own site for viewing the full programs.
# The secondary entertainment channel, BBC Worldwide, will include archival footage and some pre-roll ads. UK viewers will be able to see this and that’s a big deal, as the licensing fees every pays are supposed to keep their BBC experience ad-free.
# The third channel, out later this year, will show about 30 news clips per day and will include ads. Those ads, however, won’t be visible to UK users. Fascinating.
# The BBC will not actively hunt down its copyrighted materials in other users’ accounts, but it does reserve the right to swap low quality footage out for high quality versions and make other small changes.

I’ve always wondered how TV networks with hundreds of content producers could satisfy themselves with just one YouTube account. The swap provision in particular will earn the BBC much love from its strongest YouTube viral marketers. Imagine a company you love going out of its way to give you a better product sample than the one you’re already showing your friends! Now that’s good PR!

I don’t live in Britain, and I don’t watch BBC Worldwide on cable. I do, however, have a taste for dry British humor. The BBC just earned one engaged viewer and viral marketer — the kind that’s of greatest value to global advertisers.