Institution

Understanding institution is about understanding the following:

• Who produces the media product
• What their set of codes and values is
• Their relationship to us an individuals

After discussing with my teachers and peers I originally decided to broadcast my programme on BBC Switch which was launched in 2007, as a new brand for teenagers, but unfortunately this ended in 2020 therefore I have now decided on the CBBC channel. During my early research I found the CBBC is presently a digital channel for the ages of 6 to 12. As my target audience is 12 to 16 I was not certain this channel would be suitable, this led me to further research and finally finding the ‘BARB’ website. (click here for the BARB official website) 

BARB research

In order to gain more knowledge and understanding about the different channels available to television owners I carried out some research into the BARB website. This is ‘The Broadcasters Audience Research Board’ and is an independent organisation which measures ratings for television programmes.

I began by searching the ‘Top 10’ programmes broadcasted on the CBBC to see whether my teen drama would be suitable enough.

 

Because the most frequently watched programme was ‘Wolfblood’ I decided to complete further research into this. I found this programme is a fantasy/ supernatural British television series which is aimed at teens. This obviously worked in my advantage as this supports my argument of a teen drama being suitable for broadcasting by CBBC. Further evidence to support this is their use of a tag line, “Being a teenager is hard enough. Being a Wolfblood teenager is ten times more complicated.” This clearly shows the media product has a target audience of teenagers.

Scheduling

Programmes that are broadcasted on CBBC, such as ‘Wolfblood’ and ‘Horrible Histories’, generally consists of approximately 30 minutes each episode. ‘Wolfblood’ is broadcasted at 5pm on Mondays and Tuesdays on both CBBC and CBBCHD.

My final decision

Conclusively, my programme will be broadcasted by CBBC and CBBCHD on Wednesday’s at 18:33 and will having a running time of 30 minutes each episode. Over the last few weeks CBBC had shown series 1 of ‘Shaun the Sheep’, at 18:25, before showing the latest one straight afterwards, at 18:33, therefore I will place my programme in the time slot of 18:33 and move the new series of ‘Shaun the Sheep’ to 18:25. This is because Tracy Beaker will be broadcasted straight after my programme therefore this will be the time for teenagers to watch the channel, instead of placing ‘Shaun the Sheep’ (series 3) in the middle of Tracy Beaker and my programme and having children watch a teen drama which may not be completely suitable for their age. 

Jimmy's Journey - THE OPENING SEQUENCE