Television channel idents can also be used to identify the channel as it most often says in the ident the name of the channel that is being viewed. It can sometimes also give a small hint on what is to be shown on that channel, for example a channel that is dedicated to showing material about wildlife may have an ident that focuses on nature, whereas a different channel such as the BBC Sports channel, might use an ident that is somewhat related to sports, maybe using a specific colour palette or video clips of sports.
The first television ident appeared on the BBC channel in 1953. It was nicknamed "Bat's Wings" due to the ident looking like a bat.
Over the decades, idents have changed quite a bit and have been seen in many variations. This is mostly due to the quick advancements in digital technology, allowing for a bigger variety of animations and methods of editing video clips using different programs and tools.
In 1963 an animated BBC ident appeared. It featured the "BBC tv" logo on a rotating globe as a voice said "This is BBC television". This newer ident is an updated version of the 1960 ident which was the "BBC tv" logo inside a globe that showed the BBC's broadcasting regions.
As the 20th century neared it's end, the increasing popularity of satellite television meant that there were an increasing number of television channels, thus making channel idents all the more important in order to clearly identify new channels from one another.
Since there are also television channels that are non-commercial such as the BBC, it doesn't show adverts in between programmes, it instead shows an ident that can show the programme schedule, offer information, fill scheduling time or sometimes offer breaks for studio workers on certain channels. This is good for the channel as it means that viewers do not need to sit through what could be a series of boring adverts before watching something that they want, although it gives them time to do something else before the next programme starts. This in turn keeps viewers more interested in the channel and they will watch more.
Idents can also set the tone and attract a specific type of audience to view the channel which will set a specific reputation for that channel and will possibly attract more of the target audience. An example is BBC Four. When it first arrived, it immediately started to build it's reputation for something that is aimed more towards people who prefer facts, information and who prefer watching something that isn't as mainstream as most other channels.
(this ident was made in 2006 but still reflects the channel quite well)
Another example of idents that are relevant to the channel viewers is BBC's CBeebies and CBBC which is aimed at infants and children who are nearing their teens' respectively. The channels offer programmes that are aimed at the age groups as well. CBeebies shows much more child-friendly programmes such as arts and crafts shows and stop-motion clay animations which shows a closely-knitted friendly community trying to solve a problem, whereas CBBC shows slightly more mature programmes such as Tracy Beaker, Horrible Histories, Blue Peter, Dick & Dom and many more.
Idents can also be used in different countries where the channel is aired however, in order for people to know that there are other channels from this company, it needs consistency in it's idents. BBC does this well as it has a wide variety of channels with different idents, but all of those idents show you that this channel is hosted by the BBC because they consistently show the name of the company along with the channel name as you can see from all the channel idents shown.
Consistency in channel idents also greatly helps build corporate identity so people will know that company better. BBC has channels dedicated to a lot of specific things; sports, world news, politics, news, CBBC, CBeebies, iPlayer and more. Since the presence of the internet is also ever-increasing, BBC iPlayer plays quite a big role on the internet. People are able to catch up on shows on iPlayer and watch things that they might have missed possibly by not being able to see it on TV. This is helpful for people who have busy lives or just didn't have enough time to watch that one programme that they wanted to. Or, if they don't own a television, people can check the website and see if they find anything interesting to watch. I know a few people that do this and tend to find interesting and informative documentaries often.
Consistency also helps build branding as it helps to endorse the brand of a channel by allowing the audience to become familiar with the style of the channel. This makes it so that they won't be uncomfortable or surprised when their favourite channel suddenly changes their ident to something completely different and unrelated to the channel. Consistency prevents the audience from changing channels because the idents will be easy to identify and relate to the channel it is being viewed on instead of thinking that it's from or for a different channel .
Idents can also advertise programmes on the same channel, too. BBC did a few idents for Strictly Come Dancing which they screened before the programme came on. This let people know what was going to be shown next instead of either guessing or waiting to see if they would like it, possibly wasting their time.
These idents were all made to show the audience what was going to be shown soon on the channel. As you can see, they all relate to the main theme that the programme was going to show.
Idents can also advertise programmes on the same channel, too. BBC did a few idents for Strictly Come Dancing which they screened before the programme came on. This let people know what was going to be shown next instead of either guessing or waiting to see if they would like it, possibly wasting their time.
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