Winter Olympics, BBC iPlayer video descriptions, February 2026

Summary of complaint

We've received complaints from people who feel that video headings and descriptions on BBC iPlayer have spoiled the results of some of the action from the Winter Olympics.


Our response

We're trialling our approach to descriptions on our highlights videos from the Winter Olympics, as audience data shows us that a large proportion of viewers engage more with videos which give a clear description of the content (i.e. informs the audience of a result or key takeaway).

We understand that for those who wish to watch the action back without knowing the result, this is disappointing, and we're working towards finding a balance between clearly advertising clips and attracting viewers to our content, and an acceptable level of discretion in reporting results for those who wish to watch it back.