BBC moves on teen audience plans

Shows like axed Top of the Pops are not as relevant to today's teens

The BBC is to start work on how to improve its output for teenagers after appointing BBC Radio 1 boss Andy Parfitt to lead the project.

Mr Parfitt will liaise with various BBC departments to work out a strategy to attract teenagers across TV, radio, online and mobiles.

Plans will include drama, comedy and music aimed at the 12-16 age group.

The BBC is concerned that the younger teen audience is currently under-served by the corporation in the digital era.

'Important' audience

The BBC identified a failure to connect with the youth audience in its Creative Future editorial blueprint, revealed in April.

The blueprint sets out the BBC's plans for the digital age up to 2012.

Mr Parfitt, who will remain in his role as controller of Radio 1 and 1Xtra, looked into how the BBC serves young people for the Creative Future strategy.

Andy Parfitt said he was "excited" at taking on the role

He said: "This is a very important audience group and I know that there's a lot of great work that we can do for them."

Last week, the BBC announced it was axing long-running TV show Top of the Pops, blaming its decline on the proliferation of 24-hour digital music channels and the accessibility of music via internet downloads.

The corporation hopes to tap into the digital, web-based and mobile technology with which teenagers are familiar.

BBC director general Mark Thompson said: "The BBC plays an important role in the early years of many children's lives.

"But as they reach adolescence this relationship fades as the corporation hasn't been producing enough content that appeals to them.

"We are now aiming to bridge that gap with high quality content tailored and packaged for them, which we hope will complement existing services provided by the commercial sector."