[Brekkie]

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.

[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.

[JMT1985]

BBC seems to always be moaning about the licence fee - now, they have a commercial arm called BBC Studios which generates a revenue of over a billion pounds a year, and returns a profit to the main BBC of over £200 million a year - so when they cry that they have no money left, please explain to me where the £3 billion from the licence fee and over £1 billion and more from their commercial side revenue is going on?

I am usually a big defender of the BBC, but when it comes to them crying they are poor, I think having an annual revenue of close on £5 billion a year does not make them poor, just inefficient in how they use that money.

[Affogato]

BBC seems to always be moaning about the licence fee...

If you want to discuss the latest developments regarding the licence fee, please take the discussion to the industry news thread. Let's keep this thread on-topic.

[Brekkie]

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.

That's probably a fair point - buy one programme get three idents for free.

[thomalex]

I do think we should be seeing ident's on iPlayer to give them more exposure as the number of people watching linear declines.

Maybe when the time comes to refresh BBC One's pres it would be worth treating BBC One and iPlayer with the same visual identity and they could share idents, including Christmas ones!

[DonnyGuy]

I’m quite liking the BBC’s festive idents this year. 

I’ve always found it fascinating the level of discussion they generate as well as the fact that they seem to do something completely different most years. 

For me, the news safe idents are pleasant and appropriate to the season and for me, it’d be acceptable to have them playing year after year. After all, it’s only for the one month a year and we don’t mind the fact the regular branding is used the rest of the time for years at a time. 

But the animations are all Christmassy as well (with the exception of Zog) so just find it nice. The animation last year on The Boy, the mole, the Fox and the Horse was lovely but didn’t feel in keeping with Christmas whereas this years do. 

Hopefully see some more channels getting into the spirit now we’re in December.