2020 IASA - FIAT/IFTA Joint Conference

One of the major challenges facing broadcasters worldwide is how to attract and retain youth audiences. For those charged with leveraging broadcast archives, this challenge can appear even more stark – what appeal can old content have to young people? The BBC Rewind team has sought to show that archive can have broad appeal and, through innovation – in technology, platform and approach – they have successfully unlocked the BBC archive for audiences of all stripes.

The social media presence of BBC Archive is one example of how the Rewind team take decades of archive content to places where young audiences can be found, giving previously undervalued content new life through an approachable and engaging tone. BBC Archive content has also been used to embrace and explore new content platforms and technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, to drive popular podcasts, to enhance engagement with quizzes and to distil complex historical narratives for new generations.

In this presentation, the Rewind team discuss our underlying strategies, explore our successes and reflect on the continuing nature of the challenge of retaining and refreshing young audiences.