New Buy Online module
Post categories: ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Online,ΜύRadio,Μύtelevision
| 10:00 UK time, Wednesday, 5 December 2012
I'm Dan Taylor, Executive Editor for TV and iPlayer and part of my job is ensuring the TV programmes the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ commissions and produces are as discoverable as possible online.
As well as giving information about when our programmes are broadcast on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ TV and Radio and when they are available in ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer we also want to let users know when they are available to buy or access on a commercial basis.
The new Buy Online module
We therefore provide a module on our programme pages which shows the commercial availability of that programme and links through to product pages which list the various formats and suppliers.
Last October Roly Keating wrote about improvements to ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Online's Buyer's Guide/Commercial Availability feature on the About the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ blog.
Today I'm updating on further improvements we've recently made to the feature.
The motivation remains the same: help licence fee payers to find the programmes their licence fee helped create, even when they are no longer on television, radio or ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer.
So, what's changed and why?
Firstly, a more common sense label: 'Buy Online' replaces the rather stuffy 'Commercial Availability'.
Secondly, a new design where the product page that lists the availability of a programme in different formats inherits the styling of the original programme page (e.g. Doctor Who).
Previous product page for Doctor Who
The new page
Thirdly, the addition of links to digital download and on demand streaming services such as and alongside links to physical formats (CD, DVD and Blu-ray).
We carried out extensive user testing during the development cycle to make sure that the new presentation made sense to users and tweaked the designs and labelling accordingly.
Future plans include the integration with the Episode Guide on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ programme pages so you can see at a glance which series and episodes are available to buy online.
We'll also be continuing to add new products and suppliers to make the most comprehensive possible view of ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ programme availability.
Dan Taylor is Executive Editor, ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ TV & iPlayer.
Comment number 1.
At 5th Dec 2012, Stuart Ian Burns wrote:Will you also be pro-actively adding scheduling/programming information for items which are available commercially? Plus, will you be adding all of the schedule information gathered in the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Genome project. It really would be excellent to look at a random date in the 70s and see what was on through the programme infrastructure. How about additional links to non-ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ products like films on Buy Online so we can see if they're streamable on Lovefilm after they've dropped from the iPlayer.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)
Comment number 2.
At 5th Dec 2012, Briantist wrote:Does it work with Invisible Hand?
Complain about this comment (Comment number 2)
Comment number 3.
At 5th Dec 2012, Dan Taylor-Watt wrote:@Stuart. Thanks for your questions. Yes, we're in the process of adding programme pages for archive programmes with commercial availability (e.g. Pennies from Heaven). Re: the schedule information gathered in the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Genome project, unfortunately it doesn't yet have the brand/series/episode structure needed to integrate with the programmes infrastructure although that's something I hope we'll be able to achieve in the future. Linking to non-ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ products came out of the user testing as something users didn't expect the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ to do, although that's something we could revisit if they start telling us they would expect it / find it useful.
@Briantist. I believe InvisibleHand is designed to work with retail sites so wouldn't work on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Online, although it looks like it works with some of the supplier sites we link to.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 3)
Comment number 4.
At 5th Dec 2012, Sue_Aitch wrote:Thank you for this: I am boycotting Amazon at the moment so it's good to have the choices.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 4)
Comment number 5.
At 5th Dec 2012, alaninbelfast wrote:From a transparency point of view, how do you select the suppliers? or how do suppliers register to be included? Is there guidance on how large or established they have to be, or how wide a range they need to carry to qualify?
Complain about this comment (Comment number 5)
Comment number 6.
At 5th Dec 2012, DBOne wrote:@5 alaninbelfast Try following the link on the word 'suppliers' from the arcticle: /programmes/products/suppliers
It describes how to apply and what criteria are used.
There is a link providing this information from the product page on the top far right, see: /programmes/products/16325
Complain about this comment (Comment number 6)
Comment number 7.
At 5th Dec 2012, Stuart Ian Burns wrote:@Dan_Taylor Thanks for you thorough reply. I had wondered about channels which aren't listed already on the programme system now, especially in the radio area. I expect that will cause a few issues.
Not sure if this is the right place, but while I'm on the topic, some of the Doctor Who pages have the wrong logo on them due to season slippage. Season 11, despite being Pertwee should have the Diamond logo:
/programmes/p00pn9fq
Season 18 should have the neon logo:
/programmes/p00s64fm
Thanks however for fixing the TV Movie:
/programmes/p00t8qnw
Complain about this comment (Comment number 7)
Comment number 8.
At 12th Dec 2012, James Aslett wrote:@Stuart Ian Burns: I asked someone about the Doctor Who logo issue and I hope the response received helps understand why this decision was made.
'Itβs an interesting one. For the older seasons of Doctor Who (1963 β 1989 and the TVM in the 1990s) we assigned each Doctor a logo. We chose the logo which our audience most identified with that Doctor. So, for Jon Pertweeβs era we gave him the logo that was βhisβ throughout all but his final 5 stories β i.e. season 11.
Similarly, for Tom Bakerβs era we assigned him the βdiamond logoβ which had been βhisβ for all but one of his seven seasons.
It took a lot of work with our colleagues to ensure we could use βoldβ branding but we hope it helps immerse our audience in the years which these extensive pages cover. Weβll be adding a huge amount of content to these sections and we may review the branding. Our current approach is designed in part to βtake people backβ and give them a flavour of that Doctorβs era, but I know itβs not a precise science and some fans who are aware of the branding intricacies may want a different approach. As I say, weβve not finished with these pages β lots more content to go β so this issue may be revisited at some point in the future.'
Complain about this comment (Comment number 8)
Comment number 9.
At 12th Dec 2012, Marie wrote:I'd love to be able to access ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ programs iplayerbeven for a fee. Is there any way to do so in the US?
Complain about this comment (Comment number 9)