[SteveRW]

Not quite sure which budget idents would come out of but I suspect compared to the overall promotion budget it's a small fraction.

Ideally for me I'd have a fairly straight forward lens set for use each year (whether variations of the normal idents or something more Christmas specific) and then you can top that up with a special ident linked to the flagship programme of the year and ideally you'd hold that ident back till much nearer the date.    That way once you've got the Lens set in play you'd only need one new ident each year rather than the 3 + news safe variations they have.

I also think they could use a more generic lens style in more interesting ways too - using the effect to offer previews of the various Christmas highlights rather than concentrating on one, and without having to film something special too.

I believe that since 2020, the BBC just requested an ident from the creators of that year's top animation film. The idents would have likely been created quite easily and cheaply because the film company would likely be pleased at their work being showcased on screen, 30 times a day for a whole month, so despite the fact they look lavish, I reckon its just part of the deal made when commissioning the animations. The BBC have not created any Christmas idents since 2019.