YouTube, BBCWW get into Gear

BBC Worldwide (BBCWW) has teamed up video-sharing social website YouTube to create a dedicated Top Gear channel offering highlights from the motoring entertainment show.

The Top Gear channel will mark the first time BBCWW has launched a dedicated section on YouTube for a single programme brand and reflects “the enormous global popularity” of the show, the corporation said.

The channel will complement the existing BBCWW YouTube page. Top Gear content on the existing channel has already proven itself to be popular, with one clip of presenter Jeremy Clarkson driving a lightweight Arial Atom sports car generating more than three million views in the last year.

In addition to Top Gear clips, the channel will also feature content from the presenters’ other shows, including Jeremy Clarkson’s MotorWorld, Clarkson’s Car Years, Clarkson’s Extreme Machines and Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel.

Simon Danker, BBCWW director of digital media, said: “Top Gear has a massive audience across the globe so we thought it was time it had its own place on YouTube.

“The BBC Worldwide YouTube channel has already proven its value to users, having generated millions of views since its launch in March last year. We’re now expanding our portfolio of YouTube channels to reflect the massive online popularity of certain programme brands and to give fans of shows like Top Gear a dedicated destination on YouTube.”

In related BBCWW news, the company’s sales and distribution division is expanding its global research team with the appointments of two research managers.

Tim Savill and Gary Woolf will join the global research team and report to research VP Stella Creasey. They will be responsible for managing research into the performance of BBC Worldwide properties around the world and deepening analysis of trends, genres and advertising models on all content platforms.