Blue Planet II


Blue Planet II creator forms new natural history outfit

James Honeyborne, the creator of Blue Planet II, has formed a new production company specialising in natural history. Based in Bristol, the home of the BBC’s Natural History Unit (NHU), Freeborne Media is to focus on nature and science docs. The exec was previously an EP on the BBC’s landmark series Blue Planet II, and has […]

BBCWW signs 2200 hours for first Chinese telco deal

BBC Worldwide (BBCWW) has signed a deal with Migu Video, China Mobile’s video platform that will see more than 2200 hours of BBC content from across factual, lifestyle and pre-school genres. The deal with Migu Video marks BBCWW’s first deal with a Chinese telco. Migu was set up in 2014 and claims to have access […]

Bringing ‘Game of Thrones’ to the animal kingdom

The BBC’s factual slate is bringing drama to its animal kingdom this year, as the broadcaster moves forward from the tremendous success of Blue Planet II in 2017 and Planet Earth II a year prior. The 2018 selection welcomes a range of critters, with aims to tell their stories like never before. Topping the list […]

BBC reports ‘best year ever’ for streaming service iPlayer

UK pubcaster the BBC has said the iPlayer recorded its “best year ever in 2017” after adding more boxsets, archive shows and personalisation features. Company stats reveal that viewers of the catch-up and on-demand service streamed 272 million programmes per month on average in 2017, with total requests growing to 3.3 billion – an 11% […]

Blue Planet II is BBC iPlayer’s top series of 2017

Big-ticket natural history series Blue Planet II is the most requested show on the iPlayer this year. The David Attenborough-fronted series saw its first episode received 4.2 million requests on the streaming service of the UK’s pubcaster. This narrowly topped episode one of Tom Hardy drama Taboo, which took 4.1 million. Relationship drama Doctor Foster’s […]

BBC merges Studios and Worldwide

UK pubcaster the BBC is merging its production arm, BBC Studios, and commercial division BBC Worldwide (BBCWW) into one entity. The BBC claims the move to plump for one commercial brand – BBC Studios – will bring it “into line with the rest of the industry” in an “increasingly competitive and global market for production […]

Viewer demand: Blue Planet II vs Planet Earth II

After Blue Planet II’s record breaking ratings for its premiere, is it fair to say that the series is already more popular than its predecessor? Parrot Analytics exclusively analyses the stats for TBI. Blue Planet II’s premiere ratings were higher than its predecssor Planet Earth II’s ratings a year ago. Blue Planet drew in 14.1 […]

Blue Planet II draws record 14.1m viewers

Blue Planet II has become the most-watched show of 2017 in the UK so far, drawing in 14.1 million viewers for its first episode. The recent figures also make the show the most-watched natural history programme in 15 years. In addition, the figures pin it as one of the most watched programmes of the last five years, […]

Discovery Lat Am scores BBC Worldwide deal

Discovery Networks Latin America / US Hispanic (DLA / USH) has entered into a first-look deal with BBC Worldwide. The Discovery Lat Am channels will become the exclusive home to many of the BBC’s top unscripted titles such as Planet Earth II, the Top Gear franchise and the upcoming Blue Planet II (pictured). The Matt […]

White Gold shines at BBCWW’s Showcase

White Gold was the most popular show among buyers at the BBC Worldwide Showcase event in Liverpool this week. The upcoming BBC comedy, which is set in 1980s Essex and sees several of The Inbetweeners team reuniting, had the highest rating among the assembled acquisition execs in town for Showcase. It ranked ahead of wildlife […]