How the BBC launched what it believes to be Asia’s first mobile responsive website - BBC

Insight Valley Asia 2013 | May 16 & 17 | Bangkok, Thailand | www.insightvalley.com


Thank you to our sponsor & partners!

Gold Sponsor

Supported by

Organised by

How the BBC launched what it believes to be Asia’s first mobile responsive website

@WSaudiences

Or…An insight fairy tale: taking mobile to the media ball

Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a kingdom far, far away

A storm was brewing- the perfect mobile storm

Mobile internet devices 'will outnumber humans this year‘ Cisco report says number of smartphones, tablets, laptops and internet-capable phones will exceed number of humans in 2013

Since the 00’s there had been rumours that this perfect mobile storm would come…but alas it never did

“Mobile has been over-hyped in the short term but under-hyped in the medium term to long term” Sir Martin

Sorrell 2009

But in 2012 it looked like the waiting was over and the perfect mobile storm had arrived: the year of mobile was here

0 200 400 600 800

1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

2007 2009 2011 2013 2015

Intern

et Us

ers

Global mobile and desktop penetration Desktop Users Mobile Users

And it was decided a media ball should be held to celebrate- to welcome mobile and allow it to make it’s debut

The lands were scoured far and wide- where should the media ball be held?

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Russian Spanish Hindi Arabic Indonesian

Intern

et Us

ers

BBC World Service: Desktop vs Mobile UVs

Desktop Users Mobile Users

And finally decided that Indonesia was one of the most perfect places for mobile to make it’s debut

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Mobile and desktop penetration in Indonesia

Desktop Mobile

But for the BBC to take it’s mobile site to the media ball, a serious transformation was needed to reflect fragmented user behaviour- which is where the research fairy god mothers came in

“…It’s about user intent, their discovery route to you, their context of use and the device they hold. This is where the traffic lies. ”

• Mobile websites and apps optimisation best practice guide:

Seven ways to optimise your mobile strategy, Econsultancy, 2011

And the transformation needed to be dazzling- because the pressure on debutantes was higher than ever

2 in 3 Expect the websites they visit on their smart phones to be as easy to navigate and access as they are when they visit them from a desktop and with open feedback there’s no where to hide

Firstly the fairy god mother decided that a beautiful dress was needed for mobile to be fit for the ball

Scan headlines & pics

Read 1-sentence summaries

Read first 2-3 paras

Homepage

Article

Occasional skim to bottom

Occasional click-throughs for stories of interest

Sub-indexes rarely used Sometimes return to interesting content

later

And that dress needed to be simple and elegant, visually beautiful, but most importantly needed to show off it’s best assets

Strong images Teasing headlines

Enticing summaries

Increasing content on homepage

Prominent time stamps

Time is short on mobile and content needs to capture interest

Secondly the fairy god mother decided that mobile needed to know the dance steps for the ball

…with the option to read more if interested

Each no more than 2-3 paragraphs

Lighter, accessible tone

Some clear mobile-specific expectations emerged:

Delivering the key facts - who, what, where, why

Lots of short, timely stories frequently updated

A broader editorial agenda for completeness

Frequency to replace depth

And the timing of those dance steps was as important as knowing the right moves

Early morning Late night

Mobile time of day usage

Thirdly the fairy god mother decided that a coach was needed to get mobile to the ball

Our offering was felt to be strong and distinctive to competitors- but very different- challenging learned behaviours meant we

needed to shout about it to go against the grain

And that coach needed to have a wow factor and be something to talk about across the land

Provocative

Unusual angle

Definite stance

Positive, motivational, uplifting

Fun or funny content

‘Close to the heart’

Indonesia is one of the largest social markets in the world- key

And finally the fairy godmother knew that mobile needed to get it’s Prince Charming

News buffs

Aspirants

Generalists

Tabloiders

The Prince however wasn’t an easy catch for mobile, and serious work was needed

Aspirants Generalists

Short form style

Soft touch

Talkability

Short form style

Soft touch

Personal relevance

And in order for mobile to woo him, it needed to follow a number of steps to get it’s man

Dial down depth and analysis

Short and frequent

A broader news agenda

Relevant and talkable

Magazine features,

And so the fairy god mother waved her wand and went to work on her mobile debutante

And once the mobile debutante was ready, the fairy god mother, fearing that some things may not be quite right, decided to try her out, to make sure everything would be perfect for the ball

Move away from traditional user testing to Rapid Iterative Testing

Day one- test- day two optimise- day three test- day four optimise- day five test

Issues: translation vs interpretation

Solutions focussed research- solve problems, not just identify them

Issues: flexibility of prototype vs ability to work on low tech phones with poor connectivity

And finally, after all the hard work had been done, mobile was finally ready to go to the media ball

BBC Mobile product

Delivers optimum experience for device screen

Prominent time stamps to demonstrate freshness

Highly visual, teasing headlines and enticing summaries to encourage click through

Short and frequently updated articles and increased emphasis on homepage

And they all lived happily ever after…

Q2 12 Q3 12 Q4 12 Q1 13

Intern

et Us

ers

Example of increase in traffic to mobile

The end?

Move from feature phone to smartphone to tablet

Enhanced connectivity and reduced costs of usage

Rise in location based services

Rim vs IOS vs Android devices

Monetisation of mobile content

@WSaudiences


Thank you to our sponsor & partners!

Gold Sponsor

Supported by

Organised by


Business

How the BBC launched what it believes to be Asia’s first mobile responsive website - BBC