BBC Studios launches new BBC app

Redesigned website and app offer a new contemporary look and more BBC content alongside enhanced advertising capabilities.

BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC, and BBC News today announced the global launch of the all-new BBC.com and BBC app, transforming the way digital audiences read, watch, and find the BBC’s renowned journalism and storytelling outside of the UK. Available to users worldwide, the new website and app boast an updated design and navigation along with more of the trusted, impartial journalism that consumers rely on the BBC for across the world. The new BBC.com and BBC app also allow for a more premium and sustainable commercial offering with ad tech enhancements that unlock new opportunities for advertisers.

The BBC app, which replaces the International BBC News app, brings together content from across the BBC, for the first time ever. The app mirrors the refreshed BBC.com experience, offering stories and videos across Business, Innovation, Culture, Travel, Earth and more, alongside News, Sport, and live coverage. The BBC app is available for download today in the App Store for Apple users and for Android devices via Google Play. 

Tara Maitra, Chief Commercial Officer, BBC Global Media & Streaming, BBC Studios, said: “We are excited to bring the new website and brand-new BBC app to audiences and partners around the globe, following a successful first introduction to consumers in North America. These new digital products deliver an experience as premium as our news and storytelling and offers us the opportunity for future growth as we remain focused on finding new and innovative ways to make BBC content more easily accessible across the globe.” 

Naja Nielsen, Digital Director for BBC News, said: “We know there is huge appetite for impartial BBC News journalism as we report – without an agenda – on the burning issues of our time. Thanks to our independent journalism, the BBC is the world’s most trusted international news media organisation, reaching more than 400 million people each week. As we expand and develop our global digital newsroom, I am thrilled our new global app and website will provide an excellent experience and much better showcase our world-beating journalism.” 

Alistair McEwan, SVP Advertising and BBC StoryWorks APAC, said: “The new web and app products that we are now bringing to our commercial partners, mark a fundamental step-change in our digital advertising proposition, harnessing and elevating the trusted, premium, and world-renowned journalism that the BBC is respected for globally.  We’re excited that these significant enhancements make it easier for brands to connect with our global audiences, unlocking new partnership capabilities and opportunities for marketers.” 

BBC.com, which re-launched in North America last December, and the BBC app allow users to engage with the BBC’s content in a more cohesive experience. Some of the changes to the website and app include:

• New Homepage: The new BBC.com homepage and home screen now include a mix of the biggest global news stories of the moment plus a selection of timely and relevant features, curated by BBC editors. 

• New Look, Same Trusted News: Visitors looking to dig deeper into what’s happening around the globe can navigate to News to find articles, videos, and live coverage. Those looking for news from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East can find it in the World section under News.

• New Sections: BBC's arts and entertainment coverage in Culture, Technology, Science & Health and Artificial Intelligence in Innovation, and sustainability and environment in Earth. Sport, Business and Travel continue to offer agenda-setting stories from around the world, as well as the thought-provoking features readers have come to love from the BBC.

• More BBC Videos: New Video section offers an extensive library of BBC videos and multimedia storytelling featuring content ranging from news and sport updates to captivating stories on climate, sustainability, science, health, entertainment, and history.

• More Live Coverage: New Live section makes it easier to find live news updates and live global sport coverage as they unfold.

• Up-to-the-Minute Breaking News Alerts: Audiences can sign up to receive the same breaking news notifications they always have.

• The BBC Direct to your Inbox: Discover our newsletters, including The News Briefing, US Election Unspun, Tech Decoded, Future Earth, The Essential List and the brand-new In History

The new website and app, together, create a streamlined digital ecosystem that makes it easier than ever for audiences worldwide to discover a wider array of BBC content. The consistent, unified layout across web and app results not only in an improved user experience, but the unified, single product suite also allows for more opportunities and flexibility for advertising and sponsorship across both web and app.

Advertising partners can now take advantage of more premium high impact ad units that live seamlessly alongside the BBC’s content, making for a more effective consumer journey. Marketers will also benefit from advanced targeting capabilities featuring more sophisticated audience intelligence, segmentation, and attribution that connects campaigns across web and app products, delivering enhanced measurable results for partners

These new digital platforms and features, coupled with research that shows advertising within news can drive business results, together bolster the opportunity for marketers to reach the coveted BBC.com audience of engaged and informed news consumers. In fact, according to the IAB1, advertising in news creates a halo effect, with consumers more likely to consider making a purchase after being exposed to a brand’s advertisement within their preferred news sources. Findings show that 90% of consumers have either a positive or neutral response to brands that advertise within news, while nearly half of consumers find brands that advertise in the news to be more customer-focused and engaging, more innovative, and relevant to them. The study from the IAB reinforces internal findings into the aggregated performance of advertising on BBC.com, which show an 80%+ average lift in likelihood to recommend and consideration across key categories.

BBC.com and the BBC app are the latest step in the company’s ongoing digital transformation, and is supported by its investment in North America, which includes an expanded newsroom that facilitates deeper analysis and local expertise of the regional stories affecting the world. Recently, the company also launched the BBC News FAST channel in the U.S. across leading services, more than doubling the channel’s reach in the region. Ranked as the most trusted news broadcaster in the world, the BBC is driven by its public service mission and editorial guidelines and standards for which the organisation is known. 

The development and operation of BBC.com and the BBC app is driven by BBC Studios Global Media & Streaming division, which leverages the power of the BBC to reach and engage audiences worldwide. GM&S is responsible for the distribution and advertising of BBC News globally outside of the U.K. GM&S is a division of BBC Studios, the BBC Group’s commercial arm that helps to fund innovation, internationally recognised programming, and the organisation’s public service mission.