BBC Global News has announced a major programming project that will explore the world of wellness for an audience of 112 million people.

The key announcement was made on the first day of the Global Wellness Summit (GWS), which is currently taking place in Boston, USA.

BBC Global News’s vice-president of programme partnerships, Simon Shelley, together with creative director of programme partnerships Nickie Omer, told the 15^th annual Global Wellness Summit that BBC Global News is to produce a new experiential series of programmes dedicated to exploring the power of wellness modalities and their potential to positively shape society.

Series to be launched at GWS 2022

Working in partnership with the Global Wellness Institute,  the ground-breaking documentary series is expected to be launched next autumn at GWS 2022, set to take place in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The programmes will aim to inform, educate and entertain a large online audience with a set of powerful documentary-style short films, immersive audio content,and in-depth, contextual written pieces.

BBC Global News has an estimated weekly audience of 112 million, making it the BBC’s biggest television service.

Wellness is ‘critical for the future’

Shelley and Omer called for the global wellness industry to support BBC Global News’ work, inviting GWS delegates and the broader industry to get involved in the research and contributions for it’s new project.

“Wellness is no longer a ‘nice to have’, its critical. We believe that a $7 trillion dollar industry should be worth exploration and the wellness industry has reached an inflection point. It’s a really critical time for wellness worldwide – it feels like something that we [BBC Global News] we must define and bring screen in a really compelling way for our audiences.” said Shelley.

“Non-communicable diseases are the world’s biggest killers by some distance and yet so many of them are avoidable, and there are avoidable by improving lifestyle, effectively improving wellness. This is absolutely profound, something that we need to explore,” he added.

Discussing the impact of the pandemic on the the programming decision, Shelley said: “The pandemic has certainly shifted people’s thinking in terms of how they look after themselves and adopting they preventative methods to keep themselves healthy, as well as contribute to the challenges of social and mental wellbeing.

“Also, we can’t forget that wellness is isn’t just the absence of illness – it is about people functioning at their very best and we will be exploring this potential for society.

“We hope to bring a new comprehension of wellness to our global audiences, and start a deeper conversation about integrated, personalised health. We are especially glad to be working alongside the Global Wellness Institute on this project and will benefit greatly from their expertise,” he concluded.

Global Wellness Institute senior researcher Ophelia Yeung added: “This project will bring wellness stories to life from around the world and amplify important messages about healthy lifestyles and wellness practices in a diverse and inclusive way.

“The BBC is aligned with our mission of disseminating rigorous, honest and fact-based wellness industry information to advocate for wellness for all.”