Does the BBC Meet the Public’s Tastes and Interests?

The value of the BBC can be measured in many ways and not just in terms of whether people are prepared to pay a specified amount each year for their TV licence fee. Barwise and York in 2020 calculated that on an hourly cost basis, the BBC represents very good monetary value compared with other services for which their users must pay directly. There are other value-related in terms of which the BBC can be judged, including by its audiences. In the case of the BBC, it has been regarded as a cornerstone of British public service broadcasting and tasked with providing programming that has relevance for local audiences and disparate British population sub-groups. Although TV streaming services have grown immensely in popularity in just a few years, they do not provide this type of service—at least not to British audiences. This chapter examines the cultural value of the BBC to the UK and to its people, wherever they live and whatever their background. Historically, many people across Britain have expressed how much they value the BBC in their lives in survey after survey. Of late, however, a body of opinion has emerged that indicates that growing numbers of people do not relate to or identify with the BBC and its programming. The BBC is the source of many people’s favourite TV shows of all time. It has also been required to produce programmes that are not designed to have this kind of mass appeal. This includes programmes designed for different genders, age groups, ethnic minorities, regional populations and others. The BBC is required to provide balanced and comprehensive representations of these population sub-groups and their interests and identities. Audience research has shown that it has, in the views of those groups, achieved mixed success. Even so, the BBC has been evaluated as scoring well in terms of its overall diversity of provision and in terms of the quality of its programmes across different genres. It has been rated by its audiences as innovative, but at the same time, there have been grumbles about the numbers of programmes it repeats. As observed previously in this book, there is a generational divide that has emerged in the degree to which different segments of the audience believe the BBC caters effectively for their sub-group. The young have shown signs of moving away from the BBC in their patronage, and this represents a big challenge for the BBC in defending its relevance and its current funding model.