New youth series to premiere online

A new British youth-orientated series is to premiere online next month as broadcasters increasingly focus on internet distribution channels rather than terrestrial TV.

PO5t has been created by Barking Angel, the production house behind Young Dracula and Tracey Beaker, in collaboration with digital agency Worth.

The show will be split into six eight-minute episodes and the programme-makers hope to boost levels of audience participation by using viewer feedback to "tweak" subsequent episodes in the future.

This series forms part of a new wave of youth-orientated programming that is being released directly onto the internet as younger audiences increasingly shun terrestrial TV.

Last month, Ofcom published its third annual public service broadcasting report, which indicated that the BBC's spending on UK-produced children's programming fell from £97m in 2004 to £77m in 2008.

This has resulted in the number of children's TV viewing hours on all PSBs declining from 1,887 hours in 2004 to 919 hours in 2008, with the proportion of children viewing such programming also declining from 47% to 36%.

The report also indicated that the internet usage is increasing at a much faster rate than TV viewing. Ofcom found that the average Briton spent 225 minutes per day watching TV last year, up by just a minute from 2003, compared to average internet usage reaching 25 minutes per day, up from nine minutes in 2003.

A greater number of youth-orientated programmes are now passing up conventional TV channels to instead go online, including the recently launched teen soap Freak, which was the result of a partnership between MySpace UK and Fremantle Media.

At the close of last year, it emerged that the BBC had set aside £1.3m for the production of drama for online channels in a clear indication that the PSBs are now ready to back the growing trend.

Barking Angel co-founder Joss Agnew said: "It hasn't come as a surprise to us that even at this stage, when PO5t is yet to launch, that a buzz has been generated about it on social networking sites as this reflects the way its target audience - teens and young adults - are now communicating with each other."

Worth co-founder John Worth added: "Launching PO5t online was a gem of an idea that came out of a discussion Joss and I were having about how teenagers are now using the internet for entertainment purposes rather than just educational ones.

"The way people view online is not only more immediate but more intimate and this led us to the conclusion that an internet only release would appeal to this audience who can log on and watch the series in their own time, in their own space and either on their own or with their friends.

"We believe that PO5t illustrates how the traditional way of broadcasting, where there is a fixed time and place to watch favourite shows will be turned on its head - giving the viewer the control to view when and where they want to."