In no particular order…

“Doctor Who”

Okay, who are we kidding? “Doctor Who” is No. 1. The 50th anniversary of one of TV’s biggest international hits, saying goodbye to one doctor and welcoming another, premiered across BBC properties last November to great fanfare.

“The Day of the Doctor” led a promotional campaign for months leading up to the simulcast event, which included “Doctor Who” props at London’s Heathrow Airport, a hashtag campaign, Matt Smith interrupting other BBC promos and extensive fan-generated art.

Ratings for “Day of the Doctor” was the No. 1 TV show on Twitter for the night, broke ratings for BBC America in the states and averaged 10.2 million viewers in the U.K. (narrowly beat by “Strictly Come Dancing” at 10.6 million). The episode was simulcast in more than 75 countries around the world as well as theaters in the U.K.

Netflix’s European Tour

France seems to be on the top of Netflix’s list for 2014, but its plans for international expansion have been in the works for awhile. The newest reports put a possible French launch this fall, as media companies line up to either partner with the streaming service or rush to launch their own versions.

Netflix currently has a firm hold on its market even with competition in the U.K., Netherlands and throughout Scandinavia, but wants to dominate France and Germany as well, both proven broadband markets, according to the “Wall Street Journal.” As of the end of last year, the service was able to claim more than 9 million subscribers among its international bases (separate from its 31 million U.S. users) and certain analysts say it may be able to add another 30 million in the next four years.

Tesco blinkbox/Clubcard TV

If Netflix is worried about a competitor in the U.K., it might be between BBC’s iPlayer and Tesco’s blinkbox. Last year, the retailer bought blinkbox and launched Clubcard TV as Netflix and LOVEFiLM rivals with a marketing campaign that made it very clear who it was targeting. Its on-air campaign boasted better quality in recently released movies than both combined.

Blinkbox’s Clubcard TV, free to Tesco Clubcard holders, bought the right to several TV shows last year, including a large part of ITV’s lineup as well as content from Warner Bros. and Endemol. Blinkbox has the rights to HBO series like “Game of Thrones” and “True Blood.”

Twitter is Expanding its TV Ratings Service to Europe

Twitter is also looking to expand even further throughout Europe, this time focusing on its TV ratings system. Introduced in 2013 to the U.S. market with its partner Nielsen, it’s now planning to launch similar ratings reports throughout Germany, Austria and the Netherlands this year.

The European version of these ratings will follow a similar formula, providing information and analysis about TV program- and campaign-related tweets, but will launch in partnership with research company GfK in the above three countries. As social becomes a larger and larger piece of international TV campaigns, Twitter and its research partners are pushing the importance of finding out the reach and metrics of such messages.

BBC Signs up for Twitter Amplify

Last October, BBC Global News became the first global news broadcaster to join Twitter Amplify, the social site’s partnership program for growing social TV conversations.

After BBC America proved the partnership’s worth through its “Top Gear” campaign, BBC Global News joined the TV roster that included A&E, Discovery and others. Using #BBCTrending, the broadcaster began incorporating short-form videos into Twitter streams last fall, recalling trending news and sponsored content.

Facebook Adds TV Partners Overseas

Facebook and Twitter rushed to catch each other last year, each adding TV and sports partners as social campaigns heated up overseas.

In October, Facebook announced plans to share data about Facebook conversations surrounding programs in eight countries. Starting with 10 networks including France, the U.K., Germany, Brazil and India, Facebook entered the international data scene to prove the platform’s strength to advertisers.

The move was an important one for Facebook as its TV rivalry with Twitter heated up last year. As of last fall, Facebook was able to claim more than five times the amount of Twitter users outside the U.S.

Fox Sports Expanding in Europe

Fox Sports 1 wasn’t just a big launch in the states last summer, when the sports brand looked to enter an already crowded 24/7 sports TV marketplace. Fox Sports International channels also launched its brand for the first time in Italy and the Netherlands.

“We are developing a Fox Sports brand in Europe,” said Gabriel Galluccio, head creative at Fox International Channels, told Brief. “That brand doesn’t exist yet over here.”

This came on the heels of rebranding the Netherlands soccer channels as Fox Sports Eredevisie last August, reflecting an international twist on the Fox Sports brand for both networks. The new Fox Sports International properties continued to focus on soccer (or football, if you will) with some tennis and Formula 1 thrown in, whereas the American launch of Fox Sports 1 focuses much more on sports like football and UFC.

BBC iPlayer

When BBC’s iPlayer launched in 2007, it was used first and foremost as a catch-up service for BBC content. Announcing its launch, BBC Vision Director Jana Bennett said: “This is a significant moment, as it heralds a new era when viewers will have the freedom to watch programmes from the BBC’s linear TV channels when they want.” Within the first three weeks, the iPlayer saw more than 3.5 million shows streamed through the app and “The Guardian” said it “may represent the biggest step-change yet in the way television is seen.”

Seven years later, the British broadcaster claims that one-fourth of the U.K. population uses the app, but the BBC wants more. Last year, it outlined a new strategy for the iPlayer to go beyond just a catch-up app to become a content platform on its own.

In October, the BBC appointed a dedicated controller for the iPlayer, proving how important the app has become to the broadcaster’s business plan. Danny Cohen, BBC’s director of television, called it BBC’s “fifth channel” and just this week, an updated version of the iPlayer was announced with a more user-friendly design and recommendation system. Overall, the iPlayer has had a big year (or five).

Time-Shifted TV Viewing Becoming the Norm

Delayed viewing is nothing new, in the states or abroad. But a futurePROOF study from Kantar Media last November found that time-shifted TV viewing was increasingly becoming the norm in the U.K. According to the study, just more than half the adults in Britain owned a PVR (personal video recorder), and about just as many people responded saying they’ve watched a TV program on-demand within the last month.

While the numbers aren’t staggering, it’s signaling a definite shift from eventized TV toward delayed viewing. Younger viewers were found to prefer recorded TV to live and see PVRs as more convenient that both watching live TV or on-demand content. As the younger viewers become networks’ core demographic, this will shift even more how on-air content is viewed, and according to the study, delayed viewing will slowly become the norm.

Discovery Named Biggest TV Network in Europe

In September 2013, Discovery Channel was found to have the widest distribution throughout Europe, according to a Digital TV Research report. Surveying 270 channels across EMEA, the study found that Discovery was carried on the most operators out of any network at 171 – closely followed by National Geographic, Eurosport and MTV. Around the world, Discovery is currently available in 224 countries in 45 languages.

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