Work

How a new website is transforming the way the BBC engages with its audience.

BBC Radio 5 live. Always on, always broadcasting. Every minute, every hour, every day. The station is an ever-open window into the worlds of sport and current affairs for six million listeners every week.

While it’s primarily known as a sports network, and with an aging audience, the BBC Radio 5 live team were keen to reinvent the brand as a more dynamic, energetic and contemporary station. 

Our solution has been to transform a website that previously focused on past content into a living, breathing destination that, in real-time, enhances the liveliness of the station itself - creating a living live online experience.

We also created new functionality for the BBC as a whole – including two new significant innovations:

5 live Now – a unique offering that helps the station reflect the live debate between the station and its audience by using technology to pull listeners' texts, emails, online messages and social media contributions online, giving the BBC far more content than ever possible on radio.

Breaking down programmes into clearly labelled items, making the 5 live schedule easier to navigate and more understandable for the audience.

The new site launched on 4 September 2009 with a significant amount of network momentum behind it, including the launch of a new set of programmes. And with an imminent move to new studios in Salford, BBC Radio 5 live is now positioned as the flagship BBC radio station of tomorrow.