WIREDGOV

Ofcom has published its annual report on the BBC, which assesses the Corporation’s performance in meeting the needs of viewers and listeners over the period April 2023 to March 2024. This includes findings following a mystery shopping exercise into the BBC First complaints process.

Separately, we have also published the findings of the second part of our Review of Local Media in the UK, focusing on the BBC’s impact on competition in the local news sector.

Annual Report on the BBC

We have published our seventh annual report on the BBC. Generally, we find that the BBC is delivering well against its remit for viewers and listeners. Despite facing increased competition from other media platforms and streamers, it continues to be the most-used UK media brand across TV, radio and online, with 61% of adults viewing it favourably.

The past year has seen escalating international conflicts and many national elections taking place around the world, with people increasingly turning to social media for news. At the same time, online mis- and disinformation – exacerbated by potential misuse of artificial intelligence – is of increasing concern.

These challenges highlight the importance of the BBC’s role and the need for it to find new ways to deliver to audiences, wherever they are, in order to retain their trust. The BBC has made efforts to develop here, such as its new fact-checking tool BBC Verify. Ofcom wants to see the BBC build on its work and are keen to see how its commitment to supporting audiences’ media literacy further develops in practice.

Our report also identifies areas for improvement. The BBC is still struggling to reach all audiences – for example, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. We want it to be clearer about its overarching plans for increasing levels of satisfaction with the BBC among this group and, more broadly, how it is evaluating initiatives to better reach less satisfied or lighter users such as younger people. This should include being clearer on what is and isn’t working for these audiences.

Mystery shopping

Alongside this, we have also published research on the effectiveness of the BBC First complaints process. We followed the journeys of over 500 mystery shopping complaints made via phone, post, webform and textphone.

Overall, we found that changes the BBC made to it its processes, following our recommendations in 2022, are broadly working well for viewers and listeners. We found that the process is accessible, initial contact is easy to make, and most responses are timely. But there is further room for improvement, such as ensuring replies are always clear and transparent, and of the same quality no matter which team within the BBC responds. We are pleased to see that the BBC has implemented changes following our 2022 recommendations, and that this latest research indicates that BBC First is delivering well for audiences as a result of our regulation.

Local Media Review

Given the relevance of local media to many of Ofcom’s duties, and to help inform our regulatory approach, we launched a review of this rapidly-changing sector in late 2023.

Our interim report, published in July, found that there are growing challenges in sustaining reliable and relevant local news throughout the UK. These include falling revenues and fierce competition for audiences who are increasingly avoiding news and unwilling to pay for it. Consolidation and cuts in response to these challenges have affected local news provision across TV, radio and print.

We set out our views on the BBC’s position in the local news sectors. We also outline our approach in considering the potential competitive impact of any future changes to BBC local news services. In summary, based on current market analysis and conditions, we find that:

• Nations/local radio news. It is unlikely that the BBC increasing local news on its radio services would significantly impact competitors, as radio audiences generally tune into the BBC nations/local and local commercial stations for different reasons.
• Regional TV news. There is more potential for viewers to switch away from Channel 3 regional news to the BBC, if the BBC increased or enhanced its offer. However, we cannot assess the extent of any competitive impact of prospective changes without knowing precisely what they might be.
• Online local news. Since the BBC expanded its output in this area in 2023, its local page views have increased, while viewing of commercial online news (both local and non-local) have declined. However, our analysis does not find significant evidence that the two are causally linked. It appears the decline in commercial page views is part of a longer-term trend predating the BBC’s changes, although we recognise that these changes may be contributing to some degree. 
• Looking ahead, we recognise that increased BBC online local news forms part of the headwinds facing local publishers and that there may be some local areas where BBC viewing is displacing commercial viewing. It is also possible that future BBC changes may well have a different impact on commercial publishers, and so may require further careful consideration by the BBC and Ofcom.

These findings provide a starting point for any future competition assessment. The BBC and Ofcom will still need to consider the impact of material changes the Corporation intends to make and take into account how these changes may affect competition. From next year we will also provide a yearly update of our view on the BBC’s position in local news sectors in our BBC Annual Report.

This report also collates views on potential ways to support the local news sector, which include:

• an innovation fund, focused on providing short-term funding to local news providers;
• a Public News Institute to help support public interest news in the UK become more sustainable;
•  expansion or improvement of the Local News Partnership and Local Democracy Reporting Service;
• how local authorities and metro mayors could play a role in supporting local news media in their areas; and
• news literacy programmes run by the sector for their local communities.

While these are not Ofcom recommendations, they are ideas that we hope will stimulate further discussion in the sector, particularly as the Government develops a new Local Media Strategy.

Next steps

We will continue to closely monitor how the BBC is delivering for audiences and the creative economy. In addition, we will scrutinise any relevant changes the BBC proposes to make, so we can intervene swiftly if necessary.

In May, the Media Act 2024 became law. Alongside our implementation of the various cross-industry measures of the Act, we are feeding into discussions between Government and the BBC about any necessary changes to the BBC's Framework Agreement to reflect this.

In the next couple of years, we will also be conducting a periodic review - assessing the overall extent to which the BBC is fulfilling its Mission and promoting its Public Purposes, including a broader review of the ‘BBC First’ complaints system. Our review will inform the Government’s own Charter Review process.