New buy online module
Dan Taylor-Watt
Director, Product & Systems, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Design & Engineering
I'm Dan Taylor, Executive Editor for TV and iPlayer and part of my job is ensuring the TV programmes the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ commissions and produces are as discoverable as possible online.
As well as giving information about when our programmes are broadcast on and and when they are available in we also want to let users know when they are available to buy or access on a commercial basis.
![](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p025vh6p.jpg)
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 which list the various formats and suppliers.
Last October wrote about improvements to Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Online's Buyer's Guide/Commercial Availability feature on the .
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 Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ 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. ).
![](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p025vh4n.jpg)
Previous product page for Doctor Who
![](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p025s8h6.jpg)
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 on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ 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 to make the most comprehensive possible view of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ programme availability.
is Executive Editor, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TV & iPlayer.