2. History
• Idents have been around on Television and Radio since the early 1950, first appearing on the
BBC between program’s to identify its service. They are normally short clips of audio and/or
video animation that have a purpose and design relating to the channel. Many channels
normally create a new suite of idents when they are trying to re-brand themselves or when
they are trying to add more or different programming to their channel. This is done to attract
different or more broader audience members to fit with their new programming. They also
use idents to establish their corporate identity that will reflect their target audience and their
programming. Nearly all channels need and have TV idents for one or more of these
purposes and that is why they are so popular in the television world today.
3. Here are some examples..
What is a TV Ident?
Idents are used to promote and inform the general public about a channels identity. They use idents as a style of
branding Using many different forms of animations and short films as well as logos and theme tunes. That allow
us to recognize shows of a specific genre of television, And allowing viewers to identify what channel their
watching.
4. Purpose for a Ident
• Most things nowadays has a way of getting their product out there, in this case TV channels
need a way to get their message across to their target audience in many ways they use idents
as a way of branding their channel, keeping their viewers engaged occupied until the
program returns with its next show etc.
• Most TV idents don’t usually change their idents but are able to make it evolve and adapt to
each generation, culture and type of season.
5. The Two Main Reasons
• The first reason for making a TV Ident is because it’s a very cleaver way to attract an audience
to a channel and making Them instantly recognize that channel, so without even thinking the
human mind engages and identifies with what they are watching.
• The second purpose would be to establish and reflect the channels identity as well as the
corporate identity, so if the content of the channel is comical they would have an ident that
would make you laugh. If their content was factual their ident would reflect this. Adding on
from this, channels can often use idents to rebrand themselves, so if they are going for a
different look or genre of programming they would show this in their idents.
6. Design
• The design of the ident is also very important because it is the main way a company will get across
their message and the purpose of their ident to the audience and will be the main representation
of the companies image (identity). How the ident is design will reflect on how the audience will see
them and can sometimes reflect on whether or not someone will watch the channel.
• The key points for the design of an TV ident are:
• Setting/ Time- Where is the ident set and in what time period? Is it in the past, present orfuture?
• Tempo- This is how fast/slow paced the TV ident is happening and can often be determined by the
music in the background
• Audience interaction- Does the ident break the fourth wall? Do they interact with the audience?
Does all the action happen inside the scene?
• Informative or Entertainment- Is the ident there to be informative or is it purely for entertainment
purposes?
• Density- How much information is in the ident? How full/empty is the screen? How much space is
there?
7. E4
• E4 are well known to use a variety of creative
imaginative vibrant scenes that generally focus
around a purple and white color scheme
• they often portray themselves as a fun young
energetic channel suggesting that the programs
aired on the show are relatable to their ident.
• It has been known that some idents are created
from viewers meaning they gain more interest in
the show also creating audience loyalty.
• E4 are successful in attracting their audience as
statistics show over 3,668million people tune in
daily meaning 21% of the population.
http://www.theidentgallery.com/player.php?i
d=E4-2007-ID-LIVINGROOM
8. BBC 1
• BBC envisions the opposite ofnormal TV
channels their style of tranquility and
serenity differs them from other
channels.
• According to BARB up to 28,693 tune in
daily
• Was known as one of the earliest
channels to use idents in 1953
• As the BBC has also been bold and clear
to their viewers and always central of the
screen
• As they take up many different cultural
themes as these would be the type of
programs shown on the channel
http://www.theidentgallery.com/player.php?id=BBC1HD-2010-ID-
WORLDCUP-1
9. Sky Movies
Sky Movies
As you may know Sky provides a range of different
genres of movies and has been for many years
now. As you can gather from the idents Sky are
not afraid to think outside the box and differ from
every other channel offers the general public
variety of all types of movies.
According to BARB’s database 426 thousand people
tune into the channel daily meaning the audience
that they’ve aimed for are met with their standards
Sky wants their viewers to feel as comfortable as they
can make them possible making one of their
brilliant ideas of incorporating the time of season
or holiday into their ident, simply creating an
appropriate design for the time of year e.g.
Christmas. This in particular sky movie ident
http://www.theidentgallery.com/player.php?id=SKYM-2011-XMAS-
features a magical, fantasy world that you’re able
IDENT-1
to refer back to Christmas period the world
created has a warm homely family feel
atmosphere to it branding the channel generally
more towards family audiences.
10. Film 4
• Film 4 reaches a daily reach of 3,003 people
as their known for viewing showcase and
classical films and themed nights.
• Film 4 does not only show mainstream films
but also have a selection of arty classics and
world independent cinema.
• The type of idents used by film 4 are edited
into 4 sections of the screen some people
usually have no idea why but its used to
reflect film 4’s type of branding.
• As the four sections of the moving pictures
which is broken up transform into the film 4
logo
http://www.theidentgallery.com/player.php?id=FILM4-2008-ID-
COFFEE
11. Animal Planet
• Coinciding with the launch of the HD
simulcast for Animal Planet, we
wanted to give the brand a more
confident and distinctive tone of
voice, resonating with its
audience, and intrinsically link the
brand with our content.
• Animal planet is all about
Animals, wild and domestic. We
created small worlds (Animal
Planets), where iconic animals
display their natural charm and
quirky behavior , which makes them
endearing to us.
• Animals are the stars of the
show, expressing their natural
personality in their
respective, stylised environment. The
logo is integrated in the environment
where the animal action takes place.
http://www.theidentgallery.com/player.php?id=AP-2012-ID-BEAR-1
