Programmes & Content

CBeebies offers a mixed genre output; presenting Entertainment, Drama, Comedy and Factual content. Content that is specifically produced for a young audience, at a pace and in a style that suits them; and using a range of formats including live-action and animation.

High quality production values are a given and programme topics should engage a wide audience and with well-crafted storylines, a clear purpose and strong visuals in the case of TV and the web.

We believe that our content should connect with our audiences: featuring playful content that gives children knowledge and experiences to help them explore, learn and grow.

We want to see:

• A mix of techniques: live-action - real children in the real world. Animation - reality meets fantasy.
• A range of formats: from straight narratives to game shows and activity driven content
• An online / interactive component (where appropriate): we are committed to translating all of our content to age appropriate web and interactive TV experiences. Children this age do go online, even though that may be mostly on their parents' laps.
• Our TV schedule is designed to follow the mood and energy levels of young children throughout the day. We feature stimulating and upbeat shows in the morning; followed by programmes with learning themes, activities and story telling during the day; over the lunch hour we provide programmes for grown ups to co-view with their children and perhaps participate in activities such as make & do; and in the afternoons we give children an opportunity to relax and have fun, until we wind down with calming stories before bedtime.

From Teletubbies and LazyTown to Something Special and Charlie & Lola we advocate our philosophy of 'learning through play'.

The Audience

CBeebies is for both girls and boys aged 0-6 years. This is a diverse and complex audience; 2 & 3 year olds are very different to 5 & 6 year olds.

Their World

Young children are egocentric. They think about now, not yesterday or tomorrow. They love to laugh and slip effortlessly between fantasy and reality.

The key people they share their lives with are their parents and siblings. Our older audience have new found companions at school too. These groups are both play mates as well as being there to make them feel safe and secure.

To the under 4s the world is a magical place but between the ages of 4-6 yrs a sense of realism invades their fantasies and begins to root them in the real world. This coincides with them starting primary school and spending more time with other children.

That said, their days continue to be filled with new experiences that leave them wide-eyed and excited.

Their relationship with media

At the youngest end children may be happy to passively view television, however, from about 5 years children are highly media literate. Nearly 90% of them live in digital homes and have access to our digital channels.

We've found children as young as 3 years using the Internet and Interactive Television unaided. They are already playing games online and looking for more sophisticated content - usually comedy driven.

Radio is a fantastic medium to stimulate the imagination of this age group. It can be both highly creative and gripping but also calming and relaxing. Not only do Children love to listen to stories but listening as an extremely important skill that has to be learnt. Listening to the spoken word is a great tool in supporting kid's language development too.

Radio can be both highly creative and gripping but also calming and relaxing. CBeebies Radio on BBC 7 sits at the more upbeat end of the scale through a variety of programmes, including comedy, stories, songs, quizzes and games. Radio is also an opportunity to bring the TV characters our audience love, to them in totally different situations. Radio is a fantastic medium to stimulate the imagination of this age group.

What they are into

This age group actively seeks out comedy and laughs. They love silliness, simplicity and high jinks. Exaggeration and physical comedy really strike a chord because their verbal skills and reasoning skills are still developing.

They prefer characters that feel real and whose behaviour appears instinctive, not fake or contrived. They also love the unexpected, things that happen out of the blue or behaviour you wouldn't expect from a certain person. It should feel physically rooted in the real world so that they can relate to it.

Intermittent segments of repetition won't bore them but they want to wonder, explore and learn too - variety is key.

• CBeebies operates a rolling commissioning system.
• Proposals may be submitted at any time and must be submitted via the ecommissioning system.
• Individual members of the public wanting to submit ideas to programmes should click here.
• The commissioning briefs may be found here (PDF, 50KB)

Roles

• CBeebies is a self-commissioning, self-scheduling department.
• Independent suppliers should send all proposals to Michael Carrington, Controller CBeebies (via ecommissioning).
• Enquiries concerning Acquisitions and Animations should be made to Kay Benbow (but proposals must be submitted via ecommissioning).

Process

Timeline

• All proposals are registered on a confidential database and independent suppliers will automatically receive acknowledgement of their proposal via the ecommissioning system.
• The Controller will either reject or progress proposals within six weeks of receipt (four weeks from acknowledgement.)
• Proposals may be provided with funded development, in which case the timetable to commission will be subject to negotiation between the external supplier and the BBC and determined by the development contract.
• The final decision will be no later than 20 weeks after submission deadline; current plans aim to deliver a decision after 13 weeks. A successful proposal will be given approval by the Controller.
• Projects may be held over in exceptional circumstances but only with the formal agreement of the supplier.
• The same timetable and process applies to in-house and independent proposals.
• Independent suppliers who are successful should expect to be assigned a CBeebies Executive with whom they will liaise throughout pre-production and production.

Queries

• At any point during this maximum 20 week period, an external supplier may write to the Controller asking for a progress report and be guaranteed a response within 10 working days of receipt.

E-commissioning

Go to this page for more information on ecommissioning.

Radio commissioning - RAP

Radio commissions are handled via the RAP system.

CBeebies is not currently in a radio commissioning round. The next round is planned for April 2009.

Go to this page for more information or to apply for a RAP log-in.

CBeebies rolling commissioning move - Q&A with Michael Carrington

CBeebies has a rolling commissioning system. Information on how this works is set out below.

If you have further questions on the process, please contact esther.delgado@bbc.co.uk.

Why has CBeebies moved to a system of rolling commissioning?

The types of programmes that CBeebies commission generally have long development and production timelines. Some will need third party investment. We believe a rolling commissioning process will benefit CBeebies operationally, should help our creative partners, and our audiences, as it will allow us all enough time to identify, arrange the funding and carefully produce the best programmes possible.

What are you looking for from the Round?

Our audiences are curious, natural learners and love to laugh. And I believe to be successful we need to provide them with programmes and other stuff that is distinctive, high quality and original. Our portfolio blends music, movement, storytelling, arts & crafts, simple science, natural history, puzzles and animation, in a fun but safe environment - in a nutshell, they our audiences learn through play.

Programmes like Kerwhizz, Nina & the Neurons, Mister Maker, Charlie & Lola, Space Pirates and In the Night Garden are really connecting with them. The key for me is to be relevant to our audiences with programmes that reflect their lives, grounded in the real world, even when we are taking them on fantasy journeys.

I'm looking to add a sense of wonder and delight to the CBeebies schedule. We're an entertainment-driven network, but young children are not frightened of learning, so I'm looking for a series which delivers that with a touch of magic. Potential shows should be geared at two to four year olds and last either 14 or 22 minutes, running at 26 or 52 episodes per series. Although any concept should have strong underlying learning values, as with all CBeebies output, the story and humour are 'key'. There is an opportunity for two complementary series in this category which will sit within our Discover & Do zone.

I'm also looking for some live-action comedy shorts - between 5 and 10 minutes in duration for the Big Fun Time zone (probably 26 eps). This series would need to appeal to 4 to 6 year old children, both boys and girls. This audience loves silliness, exaggeration and physical comedy. They love the unexpected, things that happen out of the blue, or behaviour you wouldn't expect from a certain person. I'd prefer characters that feel real and whose behaviour appears instinctive, not fake or contrived.

Must all proposals be for multi-platform propositions?

We've found children as young as 3 & 4 yrs using a mouse, so there's no surprise that the CBeebies Website gets more page impressions than the BBC Homepage - that's over 700k unique users per week. So, if we know children watch TV, listen to radio, go online - then that's exactly how I am approaching commissioning. I want to develop great ideas first and then work out how to get these ideas into every place a child is receiving CBeebies - be it TV, web, or radio - or all three platforms. That doesn't mean everything has multi-media applications, but where it makes sense for the idea I will explore it.

Are you looking for stand-alone web ideas?

Our audiences want to access our content on all of our platforms, so while I am keen to identify rich content for the CBeebies online site only, there are very limited opportunities. Please talk to us before throwing yourself into the full development process. Rebecca Shallcross can help you.

Who is eligible to pitch ideas, Indies or In-house?

We originate over 100 hours of new programming every year for the under 6's. To break that down and something I take pride in, 95% of our production slate is made in the UK. This means around 50% of our content is produced by the BBC's own production teams, about 45% by UK independent production companies and the rest with international partners.

I want the most creative ideas in the world, so this means casting the net as widely as I can to find ideas to either make or to acquire within the BBC's commitments, i.e. 50% of original production is guaranteed to In-house production, 25% is guaranteed to UK independent production companies; the remaining 25% is part of the WoCC. In addition, we acquire approximately 250 hours each year. Radio has a separate and specific commissioning process via RAP.

When will these commissions be broadcast?

Our content is available terrestrially on BBC One and BBC Two; our dedicated digital channel CBeebies; our website; via interactive TV; and via BBC7 for CBeebies Radio. The current rolling commissioning round should deliver some television content in 2010, but mostly in 2011.

Page last updated 26 August 2009