CBeebies offers high-quality, mostly UK-produced programmes to educate and entertain the BBC's youngest audience. The service provides a range of programming designed to encourage learning through play in a consistently safe environment for children under
6 years old.
CBeebies broadcasts a mix of new, high-quality programmes that have a strong educational theme and encourage interactivity, much of it linked to the pre-school and school curricula. It complements its linear programming with interactive, digital content across the pre-school genres, enabling audiences to participate or to deepen their experience of a programme.
For the year ahead, key priorities for CBeebies include:
Priority |
Rationale |
Launch and build reach to three new programme brands (In the Night Garden, Tommy Zoom and Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies) as part of an overall challenge to maintain weekly reach to the service. |
CBeebies should aim to at least maintain its reach in an environment of increasing competition. |
Improve reach among 4-6 year olds through the introduction of new content brands such as Tommy Zoom, Space Pirates, Numberjacks and Jackanory Junior aimed at this age group. |
The BBC is currently underserving |
Refresh the parenting websites to make them more dynamic and improve their user friendliness. Ensure that they are a practical parenting tool for CBeebies' 'second' audience. |
Although the CBeebies brand is primarily for 0-6 year olds, we also provide a supportive role for their parents and carers, often in collaboration with other BBC departments. |
Make more content - full programmes and clips - available on demand (subject to approval). |
Making Charlie and Lola available on demand for the BBC Two broadband trial highlighted a huge appetite among younger viewers and parents for suitable content delivered in this form. |
Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence
CBeebies content stimulates a child's interest in a range of subjects from art and cookery to rhythm and music. Examples this year include In the Night Garden and Take a Bow (with their mix of dance, music and rhyme), Nina and the Neurons (introducing simple science) and Scribble It (the art of drawing).
Our magazine titles, including Tikkabilla, offer a journey of discovery and learning, while our drama and storytelling programmes - such as Jackanory Junior - stimulate the viewer's imagination.
We encourage creative participation from our viewers on a daily basis, from celebrating birthdays to using interactive television applications specifically developed to support and complement the channel's output.
A high proportion of content on CBeebies is UK-produced. Specifically this year we will:- Ensure that at least 75% of investment is in new UK programming, including new series In the Night Garden and Tommy Zoom.
Promoting education and learning
CBeebies offers a mix of education and entertainment via 'learning through play'.
Most content is linked to the Foundation Stage Curriculum and Early Learning Goals, and is developed and produced using pre-school specialists. This year we will feature language and literacy support in the form of Something Special, encourage numeric understanding via Numberjacks, promote science through Nina and the Neurons, and encourage our young viewers to extend their world view though programmes such as Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies.
Representing the UK's nations, regions and communities
A sense of belonging is important to young children. This year Balamory will continue to foster a sense of community and introduce children to basic social skills. Me Too reflects life in the nursery and world beyond, introducing toddlers to new experiences and communities.
CBeebies aims to break down potential barriers between children by portraying people from a wide range of backgrounds and of differing abilities. We present a diversity of faces on screen and will continue to portray people from a wide range of backgrounds and of differing abilities.
This year we will:- Broadcast over 4,500 programme hours.
- Ensure that a quarter of the hours of UK programming will be new material, including output commissioned from outside London, such as Take a Bow, In the Night Garden, The Farmyard Bunch, Scribble It and Nina and the Neurons.
Emerging communications
The hugely popular bbc.co.uk/cbeebies is a natural extension of the TV service and provides additional original content, games and creative opportunities for younger children to interact and participate with their favourite content. In addition, the online and interactive services will continue to support parents and carers by enabling them to explore and learn more about childcare and early learning.
In order to highlight the benefits of digital to the non-digital audience, CBeebies will continue to show some of the best of its output on BBC One or BBC Two.
Reach: CBeebies should contribute towards the maintenance of combined BBC weekly reach for all BBC services at over 90% by aiming to maintain its own weekly reach, particularly among its stated target audience.
Quality: Audience approval of CBeebies and perceptions of it as high quality and innovative. Also, the proportion of originated programmes across all hours (including repeats).
Impact: Licence fee payer awareness of CBeebies and audience perceptions of CBeebies as engaging and challenging.
Value for money: CBeebies' cost per viewer hour.
The following targets are agreed with Ofcom each calendar year:
- 80% of hours to be originations (original productions include all BBC-commissioned programming, including originations and all repeats of programming first shown on any BBC public service channel).
- Around 90% of output hours will be of UK/EU origin.
- To spend at least 30% of relevant programme production budgets, representing 25% hours of productions by volume, outside the M25.
- To maintain the current broad range of programmes produced outside the M25, and broad range of different production centres used across the UK.