Identifying the Channel
The most easiest way forward function of an Television ident is to identify the channel. The first ident appeared in the year 1953 on the BBC channel as the commercial television began to expand and viewers had to start to identify the different channels.
The first ident on BBC one was nicknamed "Bat's Wings".
Idents have changed a lot and the new technologies have played a big part in their development though out the years.
In the year 1960, the first BBC TV logo was introduced inside a circle to all their viewers. It appeared on top of a map of Britain that was split into the BBC broadcast regions of Britain.
The most well known ident is "the globe" that appeared in the year 1963. The globe rotated as the BBC TV logo stayed in the same place and a voice would appear, telling the viewers that they were watching the BBC TV channel.
Through out the years, you can see how the BBC ident have changed in style and colour over the years with the new technology that has come around in the media world. Here are some BBC idents to show you what I mean by this.
Later on, in the year 1964, we was introduced to a new channel and it was called BBC 2.
This was BBC 2 first ident that was shown to everyone in Britain the day that the BBC 2 channel had arrived.
In the early 1990s the emergence of the satellite television meant the idents of channels became more important because that way viewer knew what channels they were watching. Idents give channels their identity so people can recognise them.
Organising the Schedule
Idents play an important part when it comes to keeping up with the schedule of any channel. Idents are also used to provide the audience with key information about the programming on that channel. The information that the ident hold may keep the audience interested in the channel instead of switching to a different channel.
Television idents also have a lot more complex uses.
Creating the Right Tone and Appealing to the Target Audience
Idents may be used for identifying channels but the ident is also a chance to provide the audience with information about the channels. It can easily reflect the type of programmes that are shown on the channel.
It is very important that an ident set the right tone for the channel that it is shown on and that it is appealing to the target audience.
When BBC four arrived on the televison, it built it's reputation on having more factual and informative programming. Their idents reflect this.
It's also Very important that the tone set is appropriate for the age group of channel. Channels like CBBC and Cbeebies have different Idents for different age groups they show shows to.
This is the idents for BBC FOUR. As you can see they use different idents for different ages. This is so it catches the eye of the different age groups. The more calmer idents are more for the older viewers so they will put this ident on before a programme that is for the older viewers on the channel. The more brighter ones and more exciting idents are for the more younger viewers and those kind of idents will be on before a programme that is more for the younger viewers on the channel.
This is the idents for Cbeebies. They also use different idents for different ages. Even though the Idents look the same a lot of the time, you can tell that they are aimed at different ages. the more brighter ones and funnier ones are for really younger viwers of the channel. The bit more plainer ones are for the little bit older viewers of the channel.
Creating Corporate Identity
Today, channels are no longer restricted to just one country so an ident helps create a brand for different location.
Using Idents helps range of channels such as the BBC to establish a corporate identity that can be sold across the world.
You can also watch shows online on websites such as BBCiplayer so it is vital for that the image could be so easily diluted in the online world.
Creating a Brand and Encouraging Brand Loyalty
Building a brand for channels is very important. It will encourages the viewers to stay loyal to that particular channel.
An ident helps to endorose the brand of a particular channel by allowing the audience to become familiar with the channels logo and it's style. It is a reminder of a particular channel and it imprint the brand into the viewers mind, this makes it more likely that they will watch the channel again.
Branding of Particular Content
Idents can be used to identify that particular content or a particular program belong to a certain channel and therefore Brand the content. It can also be used to provide a consistent theme across range of platforms.
As you can see with this Ident for BBC one, you can see that it was made for the programme, "The Voice". You can tell this because of the mic stand in the foreground and the four spinning chairs in the background. This gives the viewer the idea of what is going to be on next to keep the viewers interested in the channel.
With this ident for BBC three, you can still see that they have used the same ident that they would normally use on their channel but they have added the Olympics logo onto it. This tells the viewers that the next programme that they are going to show on their channel is going to be linked into the Olympics.
Re-Branding a Channel
The channel More4 recently re-branded their channel and changed their imagine. The new suite of idents was used to help do this.
The Old More4 Ident used to be more colourful and a bit more childish then the new ident that More4 are using now you can tell that this was when they had more comedy then Drama.
A Marketing Opportunity
Idents are really Cleaver promotional tool. The more I catching it is to the audience it will increase the chances of the audience staying loyal to the channels. This can be seen in the ITV ident the showed at Christmas time in 2012. It is so eye catching it makes the viewer want to watch the program that is on after the advert.
Packaging and Re-Packaging a series of programmes or events
Often, idents are used to promote large events or a new TV programme. BBC ONE tend to make idents that fit in with the new series of programmes. This can be seen with the Idents that they use for the show Strictly Come Dancing in 2009. It shows a disco ball with music that fits the ident and also the programme.
Sky movies have Re-Packaged their ident has a mixture of all the channels that they own. You can see how they have put together a scene for each channel. It is colourful and bight so it makes it more rememberable to the audience that the ident belongs to Sky movies.
