BBC extends Dragon's Den brand with new online show

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The BBC yesterday announced that its popular primetime show Dragon’s Den is set to transfer to the web with an online only spin off that is being created entirely in Manchester.

Mario Dubois, the executive producer for the project, took time out to explain more to How-Do.

The online version of the series is set to launch on 30 March and will be updated weekly. It features two new Dragons recruited especially for the task at hand – Julie Myer, an internet entrepreneur and the founder of First Tuesday networking, and Shaf Rasul, the man behind E-Net Computers Limited.

Together the two will give budding businessmen and women the chance to secure up to £50,000 funding, in a new format hosted by Dom Byrne of The Chris Moyles Show.

Dubois explained more: “Dragons Den Online is exclusively made in Manchester, by the BBC Multiplatform team,” he said.

“The idea for the content came out of a great working relationship with the television team and a belief that the online platform would allow and enable more participation from entrepreneurs to gain investment from our two new Dragons'.

"In addition it's a chance for fans of the show to be more involved and see more content."

He continued: “I believe that the content offers greater insight into the business world and encourages more people to fulfil the dream of coming up with their own innovative and profitable business ideas.”

The weekly updates will see Byrne reviewing the ideas submitted by the entrepreneurs – if you fancy the challenge you can apply online at www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden - with the pitches themselves being published alongside blogs and associated content.

Dubois added that the team working on the project are pulled from both TV and online backgrounds, adding that he hoped it would “inspire companies and individuals that new media and online can be a creative space to develop content and ideas.”

He concluded that “with the appropriate level of commitment the barriers to investment are modest.”


Source:how-do