Task 1 - Understanding the purpose of television idents and the opportunities they present

Not everyone knows what a TV ident is so in this blog I will be going through and trying to explain what it is the best that I can.

A TV ident is pretty much the identity of the channel, before a particular show is viewed by everyone, the channel will play their ident so that is their symbol that people would be able to recognize when ever they see it. The first ident that appeared was in 1953 which was showed by the BBC as commercial television began to expand and viewers needed to be able to identify the different channels that was been shown, the first ident was also named "Bat Wings". Over the years idents have changed and technological advances have played a big part in that been able to happen.
In 1960 the first "BBC TV" logo within a circle was introduced, it appeared on top of a map of Britain which was also then split into the BBC's broadcast regions, The most famous ident "the globe" appeared in 1963, it rotated as the BBC TV logo would appear and a voice would announce "This is BBC Television".







 
A ident has a important role when it comes to keeping the channels schedule organised and an ident is also a ideal opportunity to provide the audience with key information about programming on that channel and that information may entice the viewer to continue watching that particular channel rather than switching over to another channel.

Segmentation is important because non commercial channels such as the BBC do not have time between programs that advertisements provide for commercial channels such as channel 4 and ITV, idents therefore add time in-between programs to provide information about the next show that may be playing on that channel and others, to promote a variety of programming and it also regulates the scheduling on that channel if there is a time slot that needs to be filled into the next channel starts to play and it can also be used to provide a break for the studio workers that work in the news and sports.

As well as simply identifying the channel, an ident is a chance to provide the audience with information about that particular channel and it can be easily reflect the type of programs that are shown on it, it is also important that an ident sets the right tine for the channel it is on and is appealing for the target audience. When the channel BBC four arrived it built it's reputation on having more factual and informative programming, the initial idents therefore reflected this, it is also important that the tone set is appropriate for the age group of the channel, Cbeebies and CBBC have different idents that are appropriate for the different age groups they cater to.

Idents also have another use than creating an identity for a channel or making sure the timing between the channels are well spaced apart and play when they was scheduled, they also make sure that television channels are no longer restricted to one country so therefore helps to create a brand in a range of different locations. It can also make sure that there is a consistency across a range of channels such as the BBC helps to establish a corporate identity that can be sold all across the world and with the growth of online platforms like the BBC IPlayer, it is vital for corporations to retain the image that could be so easily diluted in the online world.

Building a 'Brand' for a particular channel is vital as it encourages people to stay loyal to that particular channel and an ident helps to endorse the brand of a particular channel by allowing the audience to become familiar with the logo and the style of the channel, it is a visual reminder of a particular channel and it also imprints the 'brand' into the mind of the audience, this makes them more likely to watch the channel again.

Idents can be used to identify that particular content or a particular program that belongs to a certain channel and therefore 'brand' the content and it can also be used to provide a consistent theme across a range of platforms.

Idents can also be used for marketing reasons, this is usually done around Christmas time, one example of a Christmas ident is on BBC one they had Wallace and Gromit making snow angles.


Idents are often used to promote large events or a new series or programs, one example of this is a ident that was played around the time that strictly come dancing was been shown on TV, This is done so that people know that it is getting to the point of where it will be shown.