Pioneering Change: The Story of Alex Pressland and the BBC

I have to admit, I have a soft spot for the BBC. They've been around for nearly 100 years, yet they've embraced technology and the internet relatively early. I've seen so many amazing product people come out of the BBC, many of whom are now spread across Europe and beyond.

Back in 2003—four years before the debut of the iPhone—a young product manager at the BBC named Alex Pressland had just finished leading a groundbreaking project. This initiative enabled the BBC to become one of the first media companies in the world to syndicate content. At the time, most people at the BBC had no idea why this was important or even desirable. However, Alex understood that this enabling technology could be used in new and unanticipated ways to increase the BBC's reach, a major part of the institution's mission.

Recognizing the potential of IP-based syndicated content technology, Alex began searching for new and useful applications. She focused on audiences in the United Kingdom who were not being reached by the BBC's conventional broadcast media, such as TVs and radios in homes and cars.

One early opportunity she identified was the use of large electronic billboard screens in city center venues capable of displaying video. She noticed that these venues were simply playing the same content available on home televisions, despite having a different context and audience.

To address this, Alex proposed a series of experiments where editorial teams would create tailored content specific to various venues and audiences. She then measured the audience reach and engagement. While this approach might sound obvious today, it was a novel concept to the BBC's broadcast journalism culture at the time. Alex faced numerous obstacles in pushing the BBC in this direction, including significant editorial and legal challenges.

Editorial teams were not accustomed to creating content for different contexts, and this required considerable persuasion to demonstrate the benefits for both the BBC and its audience. Legally, distributing content via IP-enabled devices meant renegotiating a stack of content-licensing agreements.

Despite these challenges, the results of Alex's experiments and early successes gave her the confidence to propose a new product vision and strategy to BBC leadership, which she called "BBC Out of Home."

It's important to note that Alex achieved this as an individual contributor product manager. Her work fueled a dramatic shift at the BBC—from broadcast content to content distribution—and laid the foundation for the BBC's mobile efforts. Today, more than 50 million people around the world depend on the BBC's mobile offerings every week.

This story is not just about applying technology to solve problems; it's also about the power of determination. In large enterprise companies, driving substantial change is never easy, but strong product managers like Alex figure out how to make it happen.

Alex went on from the BBC to have a successful career at several tech and media companies and is now a product leader in New York. Her journey is a testament to the impact one individual can have on a major institution and the broader media landscape.