BBC R&D bid to bring interactivity to the TV
A new technology being developed by BBC Research & Development aims to reclaim attention by bringing interaction back to the TV screen itself.
“We want to guide viewers back to the heart of the viewing experience,” says Laura Harrison, principal product manager in BBC R&D. “Interaction you actually want to take part in.”
Signals made a public debut as a test during the BBC’s recent coverage of Wimbledon 2026, adding a live, interactive data layer directly onto Centre Court broadcasts. Built by BBC R&D’s Future World Design (FWD) team, Signals blends real-time ball-tracking data, dominance graphs, serve-speed overlays, winners maps, quizzes, polls, and audience participation into the same frame as the action.
“We were trying to think about, with all of this distraction happening on second screens, how can we bring people back to the primary screen?” explains Harrison. “Audience expectations have changed. Watching sport is no longer enough; people want to respond, interact, and feel part of what’s happening in the moment.”
Part of BBC R&D’s remit is to explore how internal technology can be commercialised and scaled beyond the BBC.
“From the start, we were thinking about how Signals could work for other broadcasters, rights holders, or partners and not built solely on BBC infrastructure.
“Initially, we explored whether Signals could sit as a layer on top of Freely interacting with other broadcasters’ content.”
Freely is the internet-based free TV platform that carries the live streams of BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5.
A genre- and delivery-agnostic platform
The goal was to build a genre- and delivery-agnostic platform that could sit on top of broadcast TV and work across BBC and non-BBC environments.
“We weren’t thinking of sport specifically,” Harrison explains. “We were thinking quite broad about how we can use engagement and interaction to bring audiences outside the broadcast environment into the room.”
The opportunity to collaborate with the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) ahead of the BBC’s 100-year Wimbledon anniversary accelerated the sports use case. Tennis, with its rich ball-tracking data and clear momentum shifts, offered fertile ground for experimentation.
The technology wasn’t quite ready for use on TV but was instead deployed both on the BBC Sport website and at Wimbledon.com, proving it could run on external platforms with keyboard and mouse interactions.
“We had our own landing page on BBC, but we also worked with the All England Tennis Club to have an instance on their website,” Harrison says. “Proving we could publish externally was a key part of the next step.”
Signals runs as an internet-delivered layer alongside the broadcast stream. It is agnostic of the TV’s media player, making it easier to integrate and scale. In case of Wimbledon, the system ingested real-time ball-tracking data from official third-party providers — including Hawk-Eye — and processes it through a custom Signals hub.
Synchronisation was the hardest technical challenge. Wimbledon’s broadcast stream can carry a delay of around 30 seconds, while ball-tracking data arrives in real time.
“If we’ve got a tennis serve coming in at 100 miles an hour, and you’ve got a 30-second delay on the stream, it’s really key to get that synced up exactly,” Harrison says. “Timing was probably the most difficult thing.”
Two-way participation
Signals overlays during Wimbledon included a ‘Dominance graph’ showing who is in control, updated continuously; Serve performance cards comparing serve metrics and a animated serve-speed overlay reacting instantly to every serve, plus quizzes and polls triggered during breaks in play.
“Tennis produces a huge amount of data, but much of it has traditionally been out of reach during live play,” Harrison says. “Signals turns that data into clear, timely stories that make matches easier to follow and more engaging. Signals is about two-way participation — letting audiences respond to key moments and see the collective reaction unfold in real time.”
Audiences response was encouraging. “Interaction varies by match and by tournament stage — second-week matches, especially with British players, saw spikes in usage.”
BBC R&D say 66% of users rated Signals five stars (the overall rating was 4.5/5). Average dwell time was an impressive 19–20 minutes.
For comparison, previous BBC interactive experiences — such as the World Cup 3D model — saw average engagement of around 5–6 minutes.
Serve-speed overlays and quizzes were standout features, but Harrison notes a clear audience split. “Entry-level fans gravitate toward quizzes and fun interactions and data-driven fans dive into dominance graphs and detailed stats. Signals is designed to serve both.
“Two-way participation is key editorially. If audiences respond in certain ways, that can influence the types of quizzes or polls editors push out, both in the moment and in future matches. Some questions might be driven by real-time data — serve speeds, spin, rally length — helping fans understand the sport better. Others might be more light-hearted for entry-level viewers. Audiences could see responses coming in live, so they felt part of a group rather than interacting alone.”
Next steps
BBC R&D is already prototyping experiences for entertainment formats and current affairs. Instances include viewers scoring a routine on Strictly at the exact moment the judges reveal their scores. Or choosing which route contestants should take in reality game show Race Across the World, building a living map of their journey. Or responding live to discussion points on current affairs flagship Question Time, generating a real-time snapshot of national sentiment.
Signals also integrates emerging R&D technologies such as time-addressable media and ‘claim extraction’, a new R&D project which identifies factual claims within speech. In a talk-show context, viewers could jump directly to moments where specific topics were discussed.
Voice, gesture, and ATSC 3.0
Future trials will take Signals to the TV screen with viewer interaction enabled by the TV remote control.
“As TVs become smarter, with more sensors and AI on the edge, we’re exploring voice, gesture, and other new ways audiences might interact.”
Signals is also being explored for international deployment. In the US, that could mean integration with ATSC 3.0 / NextGen TV, which supports interactive layers and data-enhanced broadcasts.
BBC R&D sees multiple commercial pathways: TV manufacturers, rights holders, distributors, or broadcasters. Wimbledon itself is a good example — the BBC is the UK distributor, but the AELTC works with NHK in Japan and ESPN in the Americas. Signals could sit at different points in that chain.
“We’re still working through opportunities. After Wimbledon, we had a lot of incoming interest from external companies. Internally, we’re exploring how Signals could integrate with BBC product and editorial teams.
Externally, we’re looking at partners who might move quickly — likely in sport, at least in the near term. But we’re also thinking about other genres such as entertainment, current affairs, talk shows.”
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