Today, the BBC announced their new iPlayer advertising campaign. It seems that they want to focus less on what iPlayer does, and more on the warm fuzzy feeling you get when using it. This reminded me of something I’ve been thinking about for a while now: what actually is iPlayer?

Let’s start with what BBC Webwise has to say on the subject:

BBC iPlayer is part of bbc.co.uk and it allows you to watch the TV or listen to the radio on your computer.

That seems clear, but isn’t really a definition. Let’s attempt to find a definition which fits:

Hypothesis 1: iPlayer is all audio/visual available on demand on bbc.co.uk.

Well, this is clearly wrong because the news has loads of a/v which isn’t branded as iPlayer.

Hypothesis 2: iPlayer is all full length TV and radio programmes available on demand on bbc.co.uk.

What about live streaming?

Hypothesis 3: iPlayer is all full length TV and radio programmes available on demand on bbc.co.uk and live streaming.

Well, the archive isn’t branded as iplayer. Also, some clips are available on iPlayer.

Hypothesis 4: iPlayer is all full length TV and radio programmes available on demand bbc.co.uk which have been broadcast in the last 7 days and live streaming and some, but not all audio/visual clips.

But what about series catch up?

Hypothesis 5: iPlayer is all full length TV and radio programmes available on bbc.co.uk which have been broadcast recently and live streaming and some, but not all audio/visual clips.

Nope, podcasts aren’t branded as iPlayer either.

Hypothesis 6: iPlayer is all full length TV and radio programmes available on bbc.co.uk which have been broadcast recently and have “iplayer” in their url and live streaming and some, but not all audio/visual clips.

Leaving aside whether or not a/v on /programmes is iPlayer or not, how about iPlayer on a Virgin Media TV box?

Hypothesis 7: iPlayer is all full length TV and radio programmes available on bbc.co.uk which have been broadcast recently and have “iplayer” in their url and live streaming and some, but not all audio/visual clips and BBC content on Virgin Media boxes.

But only the on demand stuff on a Virgin is branded as iPlayer…

Hypothesis 8: iPlayer is anything branded as iPlayer.

Leaving aside third-party clients, this pretty much covers it. Basically, iPlayer is iPlayer.