Today, the UK's biggest-selling quality magazine Radio Times is launching a new website for the next generation of television viewers.
The site is a "one-stop shop" for what's on, entertainment news, views, recommendations, videos, sneak previews and reviews – offering suggestions based on users' viewing habits, as well as their friends and Radio Times' own team of critics.
RadioTimes.com will not only cover what's on television tonight, but will also offer an improved listings grid that can be navigated backwards to give the best coverage available for catch-up and on-demand services, including BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and Demand 5.
And the new site's "killer app" is our innovative Watchlist. Follow your favourite shows and films and the Watchlist will tell you the next time they're on, when they’re repeated, where they can be found on demand – and even when the new series starts.
Radio Times' editor Ben Preston said: "The age of the couch potato is dead. Radio Times has always been innovative and we’ve built a sophisticated website for the new age of the hunter-gatherer. RadioTimes.com will help our readers hunt down what they want to watch and gather up the great shows they’ve missed - and give them a place where they can chat and joke about what they’ve watched.
“Radio Times has an astonishing array of passionate readers and writers with unrivalled knowledge of television, radio and film. The new site allows us to become the natural home for them to share all that is best about British broadcasting, film and beyond. We'll be breaking stories, getting exclusive interviews and guiding people to those gems hidden in the schedules.
"Radio Times has for decades been one of the nation's favourite magazines. This website shows the scale of our digital ambitions – we want to be addictively useful, a trusted companion for people on a quest for quality entertainment in a time of bewildering choice."
New features on RadioTimes.com include:
- expanded coverage of cinema with clips, trailers and local cinema search
- a unique buzz chart that allows you to see programmes and films that people are talking about now – it updates in real time and is based on activity not only on RadioTimes.com but also places such as Twitter
- thousands of episode guides featuring every programme that has been broadcast (or rebroadcast) on British TV and radio in the last five years, plus reviews and star ratings for 27,000 films
- personalised TV, radio, film and on-demand recommendations based on your viewing habits
- the ability to follow your favourite programmes and films with your Watchlist
- preview clips for upcoming programmes and a listings grid that can be navigated to catch-up services
The new website was built from scratch by BBC Magazines' in-house digital team, headed up by Matt Walton, in partnership with TV personalisation specialists MetaBroadcast and design agency Method Inc.'s London studio. After a period of beta testing, combined with direct user feedback, RadioTimes.com is set to go live this month.
The site will continue to develop over the coming months, introduce more social features and roll out to platforms such as mobile, tablet and TV. The site's editor is Helen Hackworthy and the publishing director is Rebekah Billingsley.
NOTES TO EDITORS
RadioTimes.com first launched in 1997. The magazine was first published 28 September 1923 and in Christmas 1988 it entered the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest selling edition of any magazine in British history.
In recent months, Radio Times has made the headlines with exclusive interviews and breaking stories on Midsomer Murders, Justin Webb, Terry Pratchett, Jacqui Smith and Aung San Suu Kyi.
At the last ABCe (January 2011), RadioTimes.com posted its highest ever traffic figures of 22.67m page impressions/1.5m unique users. Radio Times is also available on EPGs in nearly 4m homes, reaching 11m viewers via partnerships with Inview and Rovi, and sales of the RT iPhone app have reached 48k.
(Source : BBC Worldwide Press Release)
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