Designing Idents for Television
What is ident?
A TV ident is like a video but it plays before a programme starts and usually it takes up only few seconds.A promotional sequence, it's a critical part of a TV stations brand identity.
Identifying the channel
The most straight forward function of a Television Idents is to identify the channel. In 1953, the first Ident appeared on the BBC as commercial television began to expand and viewers need to be able to identify different channels.
On BBC, the first Ident was nicknamed the 'Bat's Wings'. Idents have changed a great deal and new
technologies have played a large role in their development.
The first 'BBC tv' logo within a circle was introduced in 1960. It appear on top of a map of Britain split into the BBC's. The 'Globe' was the most famous ident that appeared in 1963. It rotated as the BBC TV logo would appear and a voice would announce "This is BBC Television".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xOCBj_PACE
BBC 2 arrived in 1964
In the early 1990s the emergence of satellite television meant that television idents were even more important!
Segmentation of the scheduling
channels like the BBC is a non-commercial channels that do not have the time between programmes that advertisements provide for commercial channels (ITV, Channel 4).
Idents therefore add time in-between programmes to:
Organising the schedule
Identifying the channel
The most straight forward function of a Television Idents is to identify the channel. In 1953, the first Ident appeared on the BBC as commercial television began to expand and viewers need to be able to identify different channels.
On BBC, the first Ident was nicknamed the 'Bat's Wings'. Idents have changed a great deal and new
technologies have played a large role in their development.
 |
| Bat's Wings |
The first 'BBC tv' logo within a circle was introduced in 1960. It appear on top of a map of Britain split into the BBC's. The 'Globe' was the most famous ident that appeared in 1963. It rotated as the BBC TV logo would appear and a voice would announce "This is BBC Television".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xOCBj_PACE
BBC 2 arrived in 1964
In the early 1990s the emergence of satellite television meant that television idents were even more important!
Segmentation of the scheduling
channels like the BBC is a non-commercial channels that do not have the time between programmes that advertisements provide for commercial channels (ITV, Channel 4).
Idents therefore add time in-between programmes to:
- Provide information
- Promote a variety of programming
- Regulate the scheduling (fill time)
- Provide a break for studio workers (News, Sports)
Organising the schedule
An ident plays an important role when it comes to keeping a channel's schedule organised. An ident is an ideal opportunity to provide the audience with key information about programming on that channel. This may entice the viewer to continue watching that particular channel rather than switching over to another channel.
Creating corporate identify
Television channels are no longer restricted to one country. An ident therefore helps to create a brand in range of different locations.
Consistency across a range of channels such as the BBC helps to establish a corporate identity that can be sold across the world.
With the growth of online platforms like the BBCiplayer it is vital for the corporations to retain the image that could be easily diluted in the online world.
Creating the right tone and appealing to the target audience
As well as simply identifying a channel an ident is a chance to provide the audience with information about that channel. It can easily reflect the type of programmes that are shown on it. It is important that an ident sets the right tone for the channel it is on and is appealing for the target audience.
When the channel BBC Four arrived it built its reputation on having more factual and informative programming. The initial indents therefore reflected this. It is also important that the tone set is appropriate for the age group of the channel. Cbeebies and CBBC have different indents that are appropriate for the different age groups they cater to.
Creating a brand and encouraging brand loyalty
Building a 'brand' for a particular channel is vitally important. It encourages them to stay loyal to that particular channel.
An ident helps to endorse the brand of a particular channel by allowing the audience to become familiar with the logo and the style of the channel.
It is visual reminder of a particular channel and imprints the 'brand' into the mind of the audience. This makes them more likely to watch the channel again.
Branding of particular content
An ident can be used to identify that particular content or a particular program belongs to a certain channel and therefore 'brand' the content. It can also be used to provide a consistent theme across a range of platforms.
Re- branding a channel
More 4 recently re-branded their channel and entirely changed its image. The new suite of indents was used to help to do this.
A marketing opportunity
Packaging and Re-packing a series of programmes or event
Often Idents are used to promote large events or a new series of programmes.
- Strictly Come Dancing Idents. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM5_4qGWRC0
- Sky Movies Drama & Romance Uk- New Ident https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW5LBsl3cvk
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