What is ERA Video Streaming Platform?
The Video Streaming Platform is a digital archive of television and radio programmes, which have been clipped and aligned to curriculum subjects so that they can fit neatly into lesson plans and schemes of work.
On the Video Streaming Platform, teachers can find videos that are:
- Of high-quality, broadcast production values
- Free of advertising and distractions
- Safe to stream, with no risk of copyright infringement
The archive currently holds over 16,000 seperate broadcast recordings, covering subjects from primary through to higher education, with a strong focus on Humanities and Social Sciences, Creative Arts and Vocations. Existing within the archive are two specialist curations, developed specifically for teachers of English Literature: The BBC Shakespeare Archive and the BBC Literary Archive.
The Video Streaming Platform is available to staff and students from UK educational institutions who hold an ERA Licence. Over 96% of all educational institutions are already covered.
Educational Impact
 Company | Business Name: Educational Recording Agency HQ Location: United Kingdom Founded: 1989 |
| Age Range | 5-7, 8-10, 11-13, 14-16, 17-18, 19+ |
 Features | Educational Video StreamingRemote Learning SupportLesson ResourcingVideo ContentStudent Share LinkRequest A Clip FeatureVideo ArchiveBbc Content |
 Languages | English |
 Accessibility | Moderate features |
 Policies |  Terms of ServicePrivacy PolicyGDPR |
 Requirements | Internet - High Bandwidth |
 Set Up | Immediate. Simple registration with immediate access. |
 Training | Webinars |
 Support | EmailFAQs/Forum |
AIAI usage This product does not use AI. | |
ERA Video Streaming Platform PricingPricing Plans Free Version An ERA Licence is required to access the Video Streaming Platform. 95+% of all educational institutions in the UK are already covered by the ERA Licence. In England, all state schools are covered by a blanket agreement held with the DfE.  Optimised for a quick response | |
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ERA Video Streaming Platform Reviews
from 9 Verified Reviews
User rating
Country
Apr 2026
The ERA service is invaluable. It is excellent to have such high quality learning and teaching resources freely available. I recently requested a programme to be added and this was done extremely quickly, which allowed me to use it in the block of teaching. I have let fellow teachers know about this resource as well, as it is fantastic
Emily Connon found ERA Video Streaming Platform:
- Builds student knowledge“Pupils are able to explore their learning in real world contexts through the documentary footage”
- Improves teaching efficiency“It makes it far easier to find useful resources that I know are 'safe' for pupils to watch.”
- Improves teacher knowledge
- Increases student collaboration
- Saves school money“The videos are freely available and provide teachers with access to clips/documentaries/films that are not otherwise available.”
Apr 2026
ERA is a fantastic resource for my geography classroom, with a wealth of clips encompassing a wide range of topics. The ability to request clips is really easy to do and the staff are friendly and efficient. My clips are ready to stream in my next lesson. This is really useful as clips/episodes often expire on iPlayer before you want to use them with a class at a particular point in the curriculum.
Michelle Ibbotson found ERA Video Streaming Platform:
- Builds student knowledge“The ability to get current topical news clips and segments from documentaries means that our curriculum is up-to-date, current and representative of our students lives.”
- Improves teaching efficiency“Being able to request a clip from a recent tv programme means that you don't have to spend time searching for it online once it has been removed from BBC iplayer.”
- Improves teacher knowledge“When browsing I have found documentaries I have not seen which have broadened my knowledge and keeps me up to date with new scientific research/findings, especially regarding Climate change and Sustainability developments.”
- Saves school money“Not having to buy Dvds or have externally plug in Dvd players as we are a cloud based school.”
- Increases student collaboration“I have used clips from programmes which encourage students to think through a problem and design a solution e.g. designing a garden to alleviate local flooding. This requires students to work collaboratively, and discuss ideas they have seen in the clips.”
Apr 2026
What a fantastic service and the selection of clips for my subject areas are vast. I also requested a documentary be added recently as always worry it will disappear from the I Player, and it was added extremely quickly. I now always make a note of any programmes or documentaries that I feel might be useful to my teaching and know that I can request these to be added here. This is such a wealth of resources and really makes planning lessons and delivering varied content to students so much easier. I would recommend ERA to any teaching staff (and do!)
Hannah Bird found ERA Video Streaming Platform:
- Builds student knowledge“Excellent resources and clips to help consolidate and further student knowledge outside of the classroom, for example documentaries on Pilgrimage and short clips from Religious series”
- Improves teaching efficiency“Useful to add context and differentiated learning - avoids over reliance on teacher talk”
- Improves teacher knowledge“I often seek out videos or documentaries to watch first to further my own knowledge and then embed this into my teaching”
- Saves school money“Free resource!!”
- Increases student collaboration“Students love clips and documentaries and I also usually include questions based on them to ensure focus and collaboration”
Lynn Cooper
Curriculum Leader
Used ERA Video Streaming Platform month for 1-2 years
Apr 2026
I am so glad my colleague shared this wonderful resource with me. As a result I have informed all my school colleagues and feedback from them has been very positive. I recommended programmes to be added, which they were in a very short space of time. How is that for service?! This will be beneficial as a Modern Studies teacher having so many audio and visual resources in one place to help make the curriculum relevant to learners.
Lynn Cooper found ERA Video Streaming Platform:
- Builds student knowledge
- Improves teaching efficiency
- Improves teacher knowledge
- Saves school money
- Increases student collaboration
Apr 2026
The ERA is an absolutely fantastic resource for the English classroom. The team is amazing, adding additional resources quickly on request that BBC iPlayer had removed. Since I was shown this website, I have embedded it into all the schemes of learning I teach and continue to discover more on there everyday! Couldn't recommend highly enough!
Natalie Cohen found ERA Video Streaming Platform:
- Builds student knowledge
- Improves teaching efficiency
- Improves teacher knowledge
- Increases student collaboration
- Saves school money
Apr 2026
Lots of videos available. Many of which were broadcast many years years ago but are still valuable resources. Search function makes it easy to locate relevant materials.
Steven Benbow found ERA Video Streaming Platform:
- Builds student knowledge“Consolidation of key content that will be examined.”
- Improves teaching efficiency“Lots of resources available, particularly those that are not available elsewhere.”
- Improves teacher knowledge“Wide-ranging content that helps non-subject specialists.”
- Increases student collaboration
- Saves school money“It is a free service. Some of the videos can be purchased via YouTube but that is no longer needed.”
Sophie Hayward
Teacher
Used ERA Video Streaming Platform weekly for 0-3 months
Apr 2026
This is a wonderful site and resource to use. It is very frustrating when I have links to clips to use in my lessons that are no longer available from original sites like BBC, Channel 4 etc., so I was thrilled to discover this site. It has so many clips from all topics and is well laid out in sections. The search facility is particularly useful if looking for something specific. You can also share student links too, so they can access it outside of the lesson or as part of homework/self study. I made a request for a specific 'Coast' episode and they responded incredibly quickly and it was uploaded there by the next day. Thanks so much, I will continue to make great use of this and spread the word.
Sophie Hayward found ERA Video Streaming Platform:
- Builds student knowledge“Lots of great clips related to the specification and wider case study knowledge”
- Improves teaching efficiency“Some old clips on bbc iplayer etc are no longer available publicly but can quickly be accessed or requested here.”
- Improves teacher knowledge“wider case studies available expands knowledge base”
- Increases student collaboration
- Saves school money
Apr 2026
An invaluable and amazing service. Response time for clip requests is fast, and the variety of clips available is second to none. saves me so much time searching the web for appropriate video clips.
Rebecca Roe found ERA Video Streaming Platform:
- Builds student knowledge“examples of subject content applied to real life scenarios”
- Saves school money
- Improves teacher knowledge
- Improves teaching efficiency“It is quick, easy and reliable to use.”
- Increases student collaboration
Apr 2026
It’s a great platform, full of really useful resources and they are super quick to respond to queries and requests. I had been initially sceptical when our IT coordinator had told us about ERA but I was quickly won over and couldn’t recommend the site strongly enough.
Hayley Richards found ERA Video Streaming Platform:
- Builds student knowledge“Brilliant educational clips and resources available to aid students’ textual understanding.”
- Improves teacher knowledge“I’m teaching A Level for the first time in a few years this year, and the Ibsen / A Doll’s House resources helped to broaden my contextual knowledge around the text.”
- Improves teaching efficiency
- Increases student collaboration
- Saves school money“Some of the resources available on the platform are no longer widely available or cost a lot of money to purchase multiple dvd copies of.”