BBC Three to premiere scripted comedy on BBC iPlayer

BBC Three is to premiere all of it new scripted comedy output on the BBC iPlayer seven days before its tv debut. will begin premiering all scripted comedy on BBC iPlayer from the end of August.

The change will begin at the end of August kicking off with the second series of Jack Whitehall’s Bad Education.

With BBC iPlayer now available on over 650 devices and platforms, forty hours of BBC programming including Peter Kay’s Car Share will also be shown exclusively on the iPlayer.

Zai Bennett, Controller of BBC Three, says: “BBC Three audiences are digitally savvy, and view our programmes in a number of different ways online and on the go. We’ve already been experimenting with online content, starting with the hugely popular Comedy Feeds, now in their second season and with a third in the pipeline. Premiering our scripted comedies on BBC iPlayer is an obvious and exciting step forward for BBC Three, and yet another innovative way to give our viewers more choice in the ways they can enjoy our programmes.”

Victoria Jaye, Head of BBC TV Content Online and IPTV, says: “We want to use BBC iPlayer to maximise audiences’ discovery of BBC programmes and increase the time they spend with the BBC. Forty-two per cent of viewers who to come to BBC iPlayer today do so without anything specific in mind to watch, and over a third are happy to try new and different content. This presents a fantastic opportunity to use BBC iPlayer as a complementary platform to schedule broadcast programmes in new ways, and innovate with content that showcases fresh UK talent. We’re incredibly excited to see how audiences respond to premiering BBC Three scripted comedies on BBC iPlayer, and to our separate trial to premiere a small number of programmes from other BBC channels.”