With ambitions to launch its streaming platform on new channels and update the designs on any existing, UKTV needed a partner that could also coach its development team in React. With a deep expertise in OTT applications and building with React, it made UIC Digital the perfect choice.

UKTV is a multichannel British broadcaster owned by the BBC, running since 1992. You’ll know it if you’ve ever found yourself watching Dave, Drama or Yesterday, with daytime shows like Question Team, Hypothetical, Madame Secretary and Manhattan. It’s the ideal partner-in-crime for weekday afternoons spent on the sofa, with a cup of tea and a pack of biscuits. Preferably custard creams.

UKTV was searching for a digital agency to partner up with, so it could continue to build on its UKTV Play app using React and Next.js, over the course of 12 months. It had already developed a set of new designs and a new QOS tool, and sought to launch in phases on existing platforms and on one new one. The biggest challenge the broadcaster faced was using React – its frontend development team needed training and upskilling.

A partner and a coach

At UIC Digital we work with clients in many different ways, providing flexibility and expertise wherever and whenever it’s needed. The difference with this project, compared to most, was that UKTV needed a coach, not an out-and-out delivery house. The brief required up front, in-person training for its development team, along with an option to bolster the team in the future as and when new projects arose.

The ultimate goal was to build a new TV app using modern technology – using React and Next.js – on a single code base that could be tweaked and built upon to include new platforms, without any disruption. This would eventually help to evolve UKTV Play. Working hand-in-hand, together we’d build out the new designs and launch across the broadcaster’s existing channels, as well as Android TV and Sky Glass later on.

Show, don’t tell

We started with a deep dive into the existing proof of concept app built in React, looking closely at the code base and compiling a list of recommendations. This step is always crucial in our process, getting together with the client to analyse exactly what the requirements are, what exists already and where we can improve. Over the course of a two-day workshop, we came together with UKTV’s frontend development team to agree the right approach. We also set our ways of working and key processes to keep the project moving forwards.

Although the team had already pulled together this proof of concept in React, it needed a guiding hand to steer the project in the right direction and perform at scale  in a production environment. Having built many OTT applications in the past and developed a rigorous understanding of how to build them efficiently and effectively, UKTV asked us to make sure best practice principles were being followed, common pitfalls were avoided and to accelerate delivery for an app that had great performance from the start.

Alongside this, we also provided regular feedback and worked extremely closely with the existing team to coach and guide them. That included analysing the existing backlog to cover off all the key technical deliverables (and make sure they were actually included). After this, we moved into project pair programming, partnering two developers up with one another to cooperatively work on features and functionalities together.

Collaboration always wins

We believe the best work happens when we collaborate, particularly with our clients. Code reviews and continuous coaching followed, working within the UKTV team, until we completed the build and were able to deliver the application across multiple platforms.

We delivered the new app for UKTV Play, alongside their internal team, on the first new platform in just six months from the beginning of our initial engagement. It continues to roll out across its platforms in phases in 2023 and into 2024 and, we’re sure, will be a resounding success.