Today Ofcom, our regulator, published its annual report on the BBC.
The report, which covers the year up to March 2019, highlights some things we should all welcome. The BBC continues to deliver for British audiences by producing high quality, distinctive and creative content which attracts big audiences. Bodyguard set new records for BBC iPlayer, millions tuned in to watch Brexit votes on BBC Parliament and millions more following our live coverage online, and the World Cup gripped the nation.
Ofcom finds that 93% of adults continue to use the BBC every week, as do 85% of 15 to 24 year olds - the same as last year. This younger age group, as well as 25 to 34 year olds, rate the BBC as high as other audiences, and 25-34 year olds’ impression of the BBC’s performance has improved significantly since last year, particularly for distinctive programmes and content.
The Ofcom report also shows that the BBC is the biggest news provider across all platforms for younger audiences. And significantly more people with a minority ethnic background are rating the BBC highly on its delivery to diverse communities compared to last year, with ratings now in line with the general population.
There are also four particular areas where Ofcom says we need to do more. Let me take them in turn.
First, they say we should take further steps to engage young people. We agree this is a really important area. Young people in particular live their lives far more online today. They have unparalleled choice at their fingertips, whether that’s global streaming services, social media or games. So their viewing and listening habits have changed far quicker than among older age groups.
We’re here to serve everyone, which is why it’s a priority for us to deliver more value to them. That’s why we’ve talked regularly, and set out in our Annual Plan, how we’re reinventing the BBC. Following the regulatory process Ofcom required, we’re turning iPlayer from a catch up service to a destination in its own right, making programmes available for much longer rather than only being allowed to keep them up there for 30 days as happened previously. We’ve created BBC Sounds to bring together radio, podcasts and music mixes in one place, giving people a far better online audio than previously. We’re making sure our news output caters better for younger audiences as well. And above all, we are commissioning outstanding content that young audiences love. Look at the success we’ve had with Killing Eve and Bodyguard, or the recent excitement around the launch of RuPaul’s drag race.
Most importantly, our most up-to-date data shows:
- In the space of the last year iPlayer’s reach to young audiences is up by around 20%.
- A year after launch, BBC Sounds now reaches more than 2.6m adults weekly.
- The number of browsers using BBC News Online weekly is up 26% year-on-year.
So our plan is clearly working. But we want to do even more for young and diverse audiences. In the last few weeks, both Tony Hall, our Director-General, and Charlotte Moore, our Director of Content, have explained how we are doing this, and we will set out further steps in our upcoming Annual Plan.
Ofcom also says we should continue to improve how we represent and portray the whole of UK society.
It’s another really important area - and something we are determined to get right. Our diversity and inclusion strategy is published and set us stretching targets to achieve by 2020. When it comes to the make-up of our workforce, we’ve already achieved these targets in many areas - such as 15% being people from BAME backgrounds. But there’s more to do, particularly on leadership. This year the Director-General set a new target to ensure we have at least two BAME members of the Executive Committee and every divisional leadership team by 2020. And we have seen real change - such as Mohit Bakaya becoming Radio 4 controller and Lorna Clarke becoming Controller of Pop Music.
On air there’s been demonstrable change as well, whether it’s Zoe Ball and Sara Cox joining the daytime line-up on Radio 2, commissioning new children’s dramas like Get Even to build on CBBC shows with diversity at their core such as The Dumping Ground and Apple Tree House, or the range of BAME talent starring in hit shows such as Nabhaan Rizwan in The Informer or Michaela Coel in Black Earth Rising. Many more examples can be found in our recent report on our diversity commissioning code of practice.
It’s welcome to see in Ofcom’s report that there’s a significant increase in the proportion of people from Asian backgrounds that feel the BBC has a good range of programmes and content that includes people like them, for example. But we know there’s much further to go. Not all groups yet feel we do enough. And we want to serve everyone.
That’s why we’ve just appointed June Sarpong as our first Director of Creative Diversity - someone with real clout to make a change when it comes to representation and portrayal on air. And just this week we announced Anne Foster will be our new Head of Workforce Diversity & Inclusion. We were also really proud to be winners at the Creative Diversity Network awards recently, winning accolades such as best broadcaster and BBC Children’s winning best producer.
The third area Ofcom identifies is around transparency. The BBC already publishes a vast amount of data about how we operate, and this year we published two reviews into our commercial and public service transparency which recommended steps where we can go further, which we’re acting on.
Each year we publish an Annual Plan, setting out what we’re intending to do for the year ahead, and an Annual Report showing how we performed in the previous 12 months. We’ll always look at how we can be even more transparent, and recognise that the way we’re funded requires us to be more open than others. For example Ofcom welcomes the way we have engaged with them over our plans to set up BritBox, our streaming service with ITV. But we also have to balance this with the fact we operate in a competitive industry.
Finally Ofcom says we need to maintain our commitment to original UK programmes.
The BBC is the biggest investor in UK content. But as Ofcom’s report shows, the financial challenges facing the BBC - at the same time as global investors pour billions into content around the world - does put pressure on the amount we can invest. That’s why we’ve set out commercial arms tough targets, as the profit they make tops up what we have to spend from the licence fee. It’s why for some of our most expensive shows we attract co-funding to ensure we can achieve our creative ambitions. But it’s also why we’ve said it’s vital that Ofcom and the Government support public service broadcasting - not just the BBC but ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 as well - so we can all continue to invest in British content that our audiences value.
Ofcom challenges us to take more risks, but look back at what we’ve delivered recently - whether it’s dramas like Gentleman Jack or Years and Years, documentaries like The Fall And Rise Of Harvey Weinstein and Climate Change: The Facts, or comedy and entertainment like The Mash Report, Famalam and RuPaul’s Drag Race. And there’s no doubt 2018/19 was a year of outstanding creativity on the BBC, with 184 major awards - a prolific year.
Like Ofcom, we agree that the future of public service broadcasting is vital. We both want a BBC which serves all audiences great value, that represents, portrays and is valued by different parts and people of the UK, that continues to create the very best British programmes and provide the most trusted, impartial news and current affairs. And that’s why we’re implementing our plan and it’s already making a difference.
