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Guidelines to Making Programmes for BBC World Service

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Guidelines to Making Programmes for BBC World Service Guidelines to Making Programmes for BBC World Service Titles and Descriptions It’s not just the programmes that need to have a sense of excitement and the ability to create curiosity in our audience and potential audience. Whatever we publish - titles, billings, online descriptions etc (known as ‘metadata’) - have an effect on how the audience reacts to what we offer and how your programme performs on the web. Programme titles and descriptions should always be written in a way that encourages new audiences to listen to them, and ensures visibility and findability across the web - in podcast provider spaces (such as iTunes), search engine results (such as Google) and other tech, such as voice-activated systems (such as Alexa). We need to have titles and programme descriptions five weeks before the transmission date. This ensures that both Press and Publicity have time to adequately promote the programme, and that these descriptions are ready in time for our automated systems. It can be difficult to update programme descriptions at some of their publication sites if the information arrives too close to transmission. Titles Titles should stand out in listings and schedules. They should be searchable, clickable and clear so the audience understands the topic of your programme. Poetic puns, word play or obscure cultural references should be avoided. They should be concise and succinct, and no more than eight words. Writing Programme Descriptions We need you to provide 2 different lengths of programme description (or information): 1 A short description - 90 characters (approx. 12 words), 1 A long descripton - 1800 characters (about 250 words). It is also important to provide different information for each part of a series if you are making more than one programme. Whatever the length, make these clear, useful and informative, and demonstrate the value of your programme. If these rules are followed then you can dramatically improve the chances of potential listeners both finding and listening to your programme. These are the rules: Writing for publication (Online or Press) is not the same as writing a radio script. Don't copy and paste the top of your script or the original proposal summary, to ‘make do’ for your online text. It doesn’t work for the reasons outlined below… The first 8 - 10 words are the most important. Do not waste valuable character count with phrases such as "In this week's programme" as many digital devices will cut off after the first few words. Instead, encapsulate the subject matter 1 efficiently and get to the point straightaway. Make these useful, relevant and interesting. Think about where the programme descriptions will appear (mobile phones, on digital listings, in social media posts and other electronic programme guides, etc. See below…). Use images or metaphors instead of statistics e.g. 'the tongue of a blue whale is the size of an elephant' Decide on one tense and stick to it. Present tense is often best Explain acronyms and abbreviations Don’t forget to spellcheck! Include keywords your audience would use to find your programme in Google or iTunes. 80% of us find online content this way. Use strong words and short sentences. Tease and intrigue to illustrate the story, don't describe it…. ‘Darren weighs 57 stone - and he's only 13-years-old. He hasn’t left his bed for over three years. Meet him at his home in Philadelphia.’ NOT: ‘A quirky documentary delineating the everyday life of the world’s most obese teenager.’ Provide context to make the subject matter more intriguing: ‘The diabetes treatment insulin has been with us for 90 years, but in countries like Mali, insulin costs are as high as 40% of annual income. Why does the treatment cost so much and how can children in countries like Mali get access to it?’ Your writing should be true, accurate and unambiguous. Check that everything’s 100% legally and editorially correct. Avoid: Using today, tomorrow, next week etc. The name of your presenter or guests in the first paragraph, unless they are A-listers that a global audience will recognise Lists of questions Radio-speak e.g. 'We discuss / find out more / take a sideways look at / send our roving reporter out to...' Lots of clauses and commas in sentences Over-flowery prose Clichés e.g. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife With this in mind you can expand the short description to the long version. But don’t forget that the first eight to 10 words are still the most important whatever the length of the programme description. 2 Here is an example of how this can work: Short How are Kazakhstan's gerbils preventing an outbreak of the bubonic plague among humans? Long The underground world of Kazakhstan's great gerbils harbours a deadly secret - the bubonic plague. Instead of dying out with the Great Fire, the Black Death continues to thrive in groups of wild animals across Africa, Asia and the Americas. With the risk of cross-transmission and the apparent rise in human deaths from the plague, scientists need to find ways of controlling it. Infectious disease expert Mike Begon from the University of Liverpool explains how the unique transmission of the disease through gerbil populations can help predict plague outbreaks, and how work on an early warning system could help prevent future outbreaks in both wildlife and humans. To look at the wider implications of wildlife disease, animal epidemiologist Andrew Cunningham from the Zoological Society of London explains how plague and other illnesses can drive species to extinction. He also discusses how controlling global trade – including the import of crates of bananas - could help stop wildlife diseases in their tracks Digital Assets In order to reach as many people as possible with your content, you need to think from early on about digital and social platforms. If you have pictures associated with your programme, great images will improve the visibility of your programme, extending its shelf life, and help reach a new, digital audience. It’s much easier to source these at the time you make your programme, so plan ahead. These should be delivered with the programme information described above, and you should ensure these are rights-cleared before offering them. This usually means that either you have taken them yourself, or you have the written permission of the person who took them. This permission should include use on BBC websites and on social media accounts in perpetuity. If you are taking pictures of your contributors, please check they are happy with their picture appearing on the BBC site and BBC social media accounts. Think about how ‘thumbstopping’ your images can be – what will make an audience stop and click when they see your image? Take images of the locations and contributors and anything that tell the story of your programme visually. You can take these with your phone, but make sure the images are in focus, high resolution and carefully composed. Please don’t use images of presenters or the programme team. 3 Images should work in a landscape format, but also be ‘square safe’ as many devices, including the new BBC Sounds app (more on that below), will crop to the central area of the image. You may also get a commission for a text feature piece from the BBC News site off the back of your programme – several of our spin-off articles have had over 2m+ page impressions. We may talk to you about complementary engagement e.g. a Facebook live. Video or visualized audio and graphics can also be an important part of reaching audiences and supporting your programme. The most important thing, if you get a commission, is to talk to us early about digital, social and short-form content so you are aware of our guidelines, templates and narrative style. You can contact the Digital Media team on [email protected] If there are complexities with rights, especially around third party publication of the photographs, please consult vanessamorris&[email protected] You should also discuss plans for any video with a senior producer from our digital team in advance. They can be contacted on [email protected] Where do these descriptions/pictures appear? Short descriptions appear in many places, including the Episode Guide on the BBC World Service website. 4 They also appear on BBC Sounds: 5 On social media feeds and listings: Medium descriptions appear on podcast providers, such as iSite. Long descriptions appear on the programme page on the World Service website: And the BBC Search results page: 6 And on Google search pages: And pictures are used on all BBC World Service social media accounts: 7 8 BBC News website Magazine text features: And in Press and Publicity Information: Business Development publishes a monthly guide to the programmes on World Service and the long descriptions are essential for this. This guide goes to many of our most important partners and is well used, particularly in the US and Australasia. In addition the BBC Press Office will use the long descriptions as the basis for press releases which can generate interest from reviewers both in the UK press and online, and internationally. 9 BBC SOUNDS BBC Sounds is due to launch in October 2018. This will replace iPlayerRadio the way for audiences to listen live, catch up and discover radio programmes. You can find Sounds via the BBC radio homepage – and is also available as an app via any App Store – search for BBC Sounds. Sounds will collate programmes from across the radio networks – 1 By genre – eg Documentaries, Food & Drink and Science & Technology 2 And by curated collections – Be Curious, Cliffhangers … … So there are even more ways that your programmes can be found – and as these grabs show, images and descriptions are even more important.
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