OPINION. Is the little publicity love for BBC Worldwide's Planet Earth II on BBC Earth because it's a natural history programme on a niche DStv channel?

Correction: This article originally mentioned Sir Richard Attenborough as the narrator of the series; it's Sir David Attenborough and has been updated as such.
Update: The BBC says several South African radio interviews were done about Planet Earth II and there's been several print articles published about it, and that there's been screenings of the show to press.


The BBC's apparent lackluster publicity effort in South Africa (and in the rest of African countries where viewers will have the chance to see it) behind the upcoming Planet Earth II ...

... is it because it's a factual entertainment and natural history programme shown on a niche documentary channel like BBC Earth (DStv 184)?

Traditionally shows and natural history programming like Planet Earth II on channels like National Geographic, BBC Knowledge (now BBC Earth) and others on MultiChoice's DStv platform in South Africa, didn't and don't get the same publicity and marketing effort, energy and PR push as big local and international entertainment shows.

The big reason of course, is the perceived limited or lack of an adequate return on investment - meaning eyeballs.

To make viewers aware through the PR machine about a new documentary series about hammerhead sharks on Animal Planet for instance ends up yielding far fewer viewers - due to the mere nature (no pun intended) of the content, than trying to build buzz about the new season of Cookie and Empire.

Still, in my opinion, it's disappointing that BBC Worldwide hasn't done more to actually publicise, promote and to bring the upcoming Planet Earth II, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, and a new extension of the Planet Earth series from a decade ago, to the South African press.

Yes, BBC Earth on DStv is a small channel. Yes, BBC Earth has a limited number of viewers.

And yes, BBC Earth as a BBC Worldwide channel isn't that widely available throughout Africa beyond South Africa as some other BBC or rival DStv channels.

Yet, Planet Earth II is a natural history show that really could and should have been used to help build awareness about BBC Earth as a channel and a brand.

More actual publicity around Planet Earth II would have helped not just the show but the channel BBC Earth to solidify its channel proposition, content offering, and its image in the minds of not just TV critics but also viewers.

There's also potential DStv subscribers who might opt to get DStv and desire to get access to BBC Earth because they become aware of this channel that's only for DStv Premium subscribers.

Sadly BBC Worldwide South Africa's perceived tepid publicity effort, compared to what other TV channels do for shows they deem worthy to make viewers aware about, isn't doing Planet Earth II or the BBC Earth channel any favours.

When viewers and TV critics are overwhelmed by a barrage of must-watch, must-follow Sunday programming like Wingin' It and The Voice South Africa II on M-Net, Date My Family and Our Perfect Wedding on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161), and The Ultimate Braai Master on e.tv, how do you break through this clutter effectively to stake a claim and to make your show stand out and feel compelling to viewers?

While Planet Earth II is a lot like the first Planet Earth series, it does go further in some aspects - something that makes this natural history programme television that should be seen - for instance the last episode in the 6-part series entitled "Cities".

This episode looks at how animals live in and have adapted to mankind's urban environment - something that wasn't in the first series and moves this follow-up further than Planet Earth.

With BBC Earth now being a high definition (HD) channel on MultiChoice - that BBC Knowledge and BBC Entertainment were not when Planet Earth and Life were originally shown - DStv subscribers can now also see Planet Earth II in HD.

I bought Planet Earth as Bluray box sets for myself and as gifts for three friends when it came out years ago because I didn't want to watch a natural history show like this in standard definition. Now at least the follow-up - filmed in 4K resolution - will be screened closer how it's meant to be seen. This is another reason why viewers should tune in.

While the British and American press covered Planet Earth II extensively, the effort by South Africa's media, sad to say, fell short. (Google "Planet Earth II" and "South Africa" under news to see how few stories there's been about it.)

Perhaps basic things things like a media preview, or a screener disk or online screener, or even a fact sheet for Planet Earth II from BBC Worldwide to the people covering TV would have helped with more awareness around the show.

It would have gotten the word out there that BBC Earth as a channel has its first tent pole programming series since the channel launched on DStv in September 2015, and that viewers should tune in.

Nobody expects Sir Richard Attenborough to visit South Africa like he did places overseas for Planet Earth II, but some more publicity razzle-dazzle from BBC Worldwide in South Africa and MultiChoice for this natural history show - even though it's on a natural history and documentary channel - would surely have garnered a higher level of media exposure in the form of reviews, interviews and attention by and in the press.

Now, like in nature where it's survival of the fittest, Planet Earth II, got pushed out of the nest having to fend for itself in a cut throat TV habitat filled with a lot of shows having bigger buzz and all competing for the only limited food that matters: viewers.

Natural history TV channels in general - like BBC Earth - and shows like Planet Earth II - deserve more love and to be shown more love.

Not only will some bigger actual effort to promote their shows go a long way to put these types of channels more front and centre in the minds of TV critics, but it will also help to grow reach, awareness and eventually lift these channels' ratings.

More issues for Planet Earth 2 series on BBC Worldwide's BBC Earth: Viewers call out BBC over 'fake' sounds, while a producer calls it 'a disaster for the world's wildlife'.

After the BBC admitted in late 2016 that it used what is actually a trained eagle in an episode of its new documentary series Planet Earth 2 starting soon on BBC Worldwide's BBC Earth (DStv 184), more issues have come to light to show that with this new documentary series everything isn't and isn't going to be "all things bring and beautiful" for its creatures great and small.

After Planet Earth 2, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, failed to tell viewers in an episode that some of the "amazing" eagle-eyed footage was actually done through using a captive and trained bird, there was also the issue of British viewers who got upset and slammed the BBC show as "cruel" for showing viewers a snow leopard rape scene that some viewers said became to much to bear.

It's not just some of the Planet Earth 2 visuals that viewers are upset with - cue the complaints about Planet Earth II producers inserting and dubbing in "fake" sounds during post-production as well.

And then there's the producer who said the BBC's Planet Earth 2 is "a disaster for the world's wildlife".

The BBC received complaints from viewers about the Planet Earth 2 "fake" sound effects, while the BBC explained that wildlife documentary filmmakers use sound engineers to create sounds that feel wild because the technology doesn't exist to accurately capture the sounds that many animals make.

"Viewers said things like "I love Planet Earth 2 but enough with the sound effects please.A lizard gliding through the air does not sound like a jet" and "Planet Earth II is gorgeous, but I absolute hate hate hate the fake sound effects every time something moves".

The BBC in March 2016 - commenting in general about wildlife documentary filmmaking and not specifically about Planet Earth 2 although the same holds true - that "range and ambient noise ensure quite a lot of wild sounds simply cannot be recorded in the field".

"As a result, wildlife filmmakers often turn to sound designers to recreate something that sounds like it would in the wild - a soundtrack that is true to nature".

Quite bizarrely, the BBC's Planet Earth 2 inserted creaking sounds that's not real while showing mushrooms growing, swivelling sounds for a draco lizard's eyes moving, a jaguar crunching a caiman's skull, even a millipede's footsteps, and many, many more.

It all damages the credibility of not just Planet Earth 2, but also the BBC's factual entertainment brands like BBC Earth.

A viewer said "The plot/sound effects are so fake that they might as well have had the animals speaking to camera".

Some viewers have also been complaining about Planet Earth 2's "deafening sound effects" and "squelching".

Then there is producer Martin Hughes-Games, saying Planet Earth II is "a disaster for the world's wildlife" and a significant contributor to planet-wide extinctions".

Attacking Planet Earth 2, Martin Hughes-Games said the series is "an escapist wildlife fantasy" that ignores the damage humans are doing to the planet and that something like Planet Earth 2 breeds complacency with viewers about the destruction of Earth taking place.

According to Martin Huges-Games, Richard Attenborough and others "are lulling the huge worldwide audience into a false sense of security. No hint of the continuing disaster is allowed to shatter the illusion".

He called the BBC's Planet Earth 2 in an opinion piece for The Guardian newspaper "pure entertainment, brilliantly executed but ultimately a significant contributor to the planet-wide extinction of wildlife we're presiding over".

The BBC was asked about this and declined to comment.

BBC admits its Planet Earth 2 documentary coming to BBC Earth 'faked' scenes as controversy grows over 'cruel and brutal' show after snow leopard rape scene.

Things are starting to look bad for the BBC's Planet Earth 2 documentary series with Sir David Attenborough after the BBC admitted to using a trained bird to film what looked like incredible eagle footage and with a growing backlash from British viewers slamming the show as cruel and brutal following a snow leopard rape scene.

BBC Worldwide plans to start showing Planet Earth II from 5 February 2017 in South Africa on BBC Earth (DStv 184) but controversy is growing in the United Kingdom over how the BBC and producers duped viewers who feel that the show is too cruel, brutal and violent.

After first boasting about how a parachuting cameraman managed to captured breathtaking scenes without telling viewers how the "natural history" was really filmed, the BBC this week admitted that scenes of an eagle flying above a majestic mountain range was actually done using a trained and captive bird called Slovak living in a wildlife sanctuary in France.

The BBC did it in the first 2006 series as well. After it was broadcast, a former cameraman for Planet Earth revealed that the documentary series "faked" scenes. A polar bear giving birth was actually filmed in a zoo for instance.

The BBC says Planet Earth II took 4 years of production, shooting for 2 089 days in 40 different countries, but viewer anger is building up over what they say is too cruel a show.

During a TV interview, a producer said the BBC and Planet Earth II, in order to compete with popular shows like Game of Thrones, must be real with viewers.

"We take the viewers on an emotional journey," the producer said during a TV interview this week. "These days a series like Planet Earth II, we are trying to compete with things like Game of Thrones and trying to give the viewer a very emotional journey."

The BBC reportedly shocked by showing viewers how a snow leopard in the Himalayas gets raped in Planet Earth II as she tries to protect her young cub by giving it time to escape.

The BBC says "From islands to mountains, viewers will be immersed in the most spectacular landscapes and habitats on Earth and will be brought eye to eye with the animals that live there".

BREAKING. Animal Planet's lion share of shows

You're reading it here first. You can check the list below for some great shows coming your way in the last bit of this year, as well as the first quarter of next year on Animal Planet (DStv 264).

Fourth quarter

Untamed and uncut II

Austin Steven's Adventures

I Shouldn't Be Alive

Animal Planet's Most Outrageous

Planet Earth II

A follow-up on the excellent geographic exploration series of Earth in November.

Escape to Chimp Eden II

Into the Pride

Fantastic new show in December with big cat expert Dave Salmoni in the Kalahari desert. He grows a beard as he goes in search of a pride of lions with whom he intends to hunt, sleep and communicate.

First quarter 2010
I'm Alive
Animal Cops Miami XVI
Worst Animal Nightmares
Living with the Wolfman
Running with Wolves
Wild Caribbean
Expedition Borneo
Night