How Much Is the BBC Still Used?

In this chapter, we see that the BBC commands substantial audiences overseas as well as within the UK. In its review of the BBC’s performance, however, the UK’s broadcasting regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), concluded that the BBC did not always cater for all the disparate audience communities within the UK that its Charter had stipulated. Audience research by Ofcom further confirmed that the BBC was losing audiences to its linear services, although gaining some through its non-linear service, and also that an increasing number of people had shifted their viewing patterns to such a degree that they did not envisage using the BBC’s output much in the future. The BBC’s audiences were consistently much smaller in channel bundles with many other commercial services available to users. As the competition for audiences increased, the BBC’s audiences in terms of average size, reach and share declined. The BBC’s own streamed audiences (via iPlayer) generated some compensation for audience losses elsewhere but did not make up for overall losses. Furthermore, younger members of the TV audience, who were the most enthusiastic users of non-linear TV, were not turning in significant numbers to the BBC’s streaming service. This indicated that the BBC as a broadcasting ‘brand’ did not enjoy the same traction with young audiences as with older audiences. While the pandemic pulled audiences back to the BBC, streaming services also experienced an upturn in their customers. Audience research projections indicate that the on-demand services provided by TV streaming companies signal the future shape of TV consumption. This is the future with which the BBC must contend. As the experience of public service broadcasters across Europe has shown, well-resourced PSBs regarded as valuable social and cultural institutions could still find a place in a TV ecology dominated by on-demand services.