2 min readBritBox Australia looks a bit different this morning, revealing a refreshed platform with a handful of new features based on customer feedback. The network expansion means more content, and an enhanced viewing experience with no ad-supported tier in sight.
“It’s just not on the roadmap,” Moira Hogan, Executive Vice President of International Markets and General Manager of BritBox Australia told Reviews.
“We’ve heard very loudly from our audience that they really love that BritBox is ad-free, and we’re sticking with that.”
The platform will also gain 4K content from August, plus subscribers will benefit from increased download limits, and three new always-on live channels; BBC First, BBC Entertain, and BBC Select. However content is the major focus.
“We've been listening to our customers who've been asking us to get more new, and the latest shows that they [already] love watching on BritBox. The core of our service is really fantastic British crime, mysteries, dramas and comedies. And they're asking us to get more of what's new and exclusive.”
On top of more of the same, BritBox Australia will now see an extended catalogue including light entertainment, and documentary series, alongside the new linear channels. These channels are aimed more toward discovery, and overcoming the decision paralysis streaming services can create.
“It's a new way for customers to explore and find shows, and to instantly watch something. Customers sometimes get a bit of choice overload. So it's really easy to flick on a channel and instantly watch.”
These channels don’t quite look like your usual free-to-air channel. Rather than instantly playing, users are greeted with a slide showing what is currently live, and what is scheduled for the next seven hours. If the live content strikes a chord it is simple enough to navigate to the show’s on-demand listing and add it to a Watchlist. It does seem like a relatively seamless discovery mechanism.
According to Hogan, these changes are a direct reflection of the Australian market, and specifically what the Australian audience is seeking.
“Britbox has been lucky enough to be able to pick up great new shows and territory premieres, and be able to respond to what our customer demand looks like. We've done a lot of consumer testing in the background to test this new expanded and enhanced proposition.”
“From the beginning of the year, we've added the first-run territory premieres to fill that gap for Call of Midwife, Silent Witness, Death in Paradise. We've also announced we're adding the latest seasons of Beyond Paradise, plus we're launching the latest season of Shetland. All of those are exclusive to us, and that's actually what our customers have been asking us for."
Despite all these new additions and features, BritBox Australia will remain a single tier service although the price is going up. Rather than $9.99/mth, the new version will go for $13.99/mth or $139.99 annually. Existing subscribers will still pay the old pricing until their first billing date after July 30th, but will still get access to all the new platform features.
Overall Hogan is optimistic about the customer-led changes, and what it means for BritBox moving forward.
"We are really excited to present [our] content in a different way to encourage more viewing, discovering and engagement."
