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ABC iview to make logins mandatory

Optional logins for iview will turn mandatory from July.

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From July ABC iview will introduce mandatory logins for free accounts, which was hinted last October.

It follows the broadcaster offering an optional login last May.

Individual profiles for each household member will include personal programme recommendations and watchlists of shows to catch later on.

The login also enabling viewers to continue watching programmes across multiple devices – picking up a show on one screen where they left off on another.

A new campaign to promote iview features puppet characters, Linh, Arj, and Gloria, designed in-house and then made by Kay Yasugi from Digital Seagull. Sam Simmons is narrator of the campaign.

Diana Costantini, Head of Creative ABC MADE, said: “The VOD space is heavily populated with a lot of fantastic creative work in market. Our aim was to craft a campaign that stood out from the crowd, piquing the interest and enticing audiences to jump on to ABC iview to experience the vast range of content we have on offer. Of course, if you’re going to run a campaign line around ‘surprise’ you also want the campaign itself to be surprising. We think Linh, Arj and Gloria deliver that in spades.”

“Our puppets don’t speak, so the narrator was always an important consideration when crafting the work,” she said. “Rather than engaging a standard voice-over person, we auditioned actors and comedians. Sam’s silliness and off script commentary won us over. He’s true-blue original and we’re stoked he could bring so much to this project.”

ABC’s Director of Audiences, Leisa Bacon, said: “Over three million Australians have already created an ABC account. Logging into ABC iview with an ABC account will help audiences to discover content that they may not have otherwise.

“We know that audiences choose their streaming services based on the content offer and the ABC serves up award-winning content that spans everything from drama to comedy, docos to news and, of course, it’s all for free. The ABC MADE team has produced a stand-out integrated campaign that will help audiences to re-evaluate ABC iview.”

SBS on Demand has had logins since 2016 which helps them to sell and target ads to specific demos.

10 Responses

  1. Why do this? They don’t seem to have given a reason and are a bit evasive about it. There are benefits for frequent users, as stated here, but only a few will want those features and it will discourage casual users. It’s neither subscription nor ad supported so doesn’t need to track users. Keeping logins optional would seem to be the best. The only reason I can see is to provide viewership stats. Anyone know why the change?

  2. Iview stopped working on my Panasonic TV a few months back and soon it’ll be permanently off.
    I’ll have to dig out my fake persona and use Chromecast from a PC or use a Roku box. Casting from my smartphone is out due to it’s lack of privacy with “permissions”.

  3. The BBC have required logins for their iPlayer for years. The benefits of remembering your watchlists and where you left a programme, and the ability to continue watching on other devices, far outweigh any negatives. If anything, it may allow for better parental controls by limiting kids profiles to ABC ME/Kids content.

  7. i think this is outrageous for the ABC to do. There is no justification for them to change to mandatory log-ins. As the national broadcaster they should ensure its accessible to all. SBS has commercials so they have a case for log-ins – but the ABC should keep it optional. Unless the plan is to evolve to a paid service? All i can say is – get ready for a barrage of complaints when this is implemented!

    1. Exactly. iview has been fine as is for all these years. Why change it? There are no commercial interests at stake, and they are supposed to serve us, the taxpayer.

      And I’m sick to death of making accounts for every damned thing. Not everything needs to be fortified in this way.

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