- 2023/24 summary of strategic and financial performance shows BBC’s main commercial arm BBC Studios investing record levels in key strategic priorities and content.
- BBC Commercial delivers sales of £1.9 billion (22/23: £2.1 billion) and EBITDA of £199 million (22/23: £252 million) despite challenging market conditions
- BBC Studios, the BBC’s main commercial arm, invests record levels in content and strategic priorities, including the acquisition of BritBox International
- BBC Studios sees good underlying growth underpinning the ambition to double the 2022 business by 2028
- Content highlights included Planet Earth III, The Famous Five, The 1% Club, Einstein and the Bomb, Eurovision, a second series of Time and the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla
2023/24 was a year of investment in sustainable future growth and business transformation for BBC Commercial. The business, which supports the BBC by generating income for the BBC Group, delivered sales of £1.9 billion and EBITDA of £199 million against very challenging market conditions. For full results see here.
BBC Studios, the BBC’s main commercial arm, made a series of key strategic investments in year, most notably taking full ownership of profitable and fast-growing BritBox International, expanding its international production footprint with new acquisitions in Scandinavia, Spain and Australia, both completed and announced in year, and, as signalled in last year’s annual report, enhancements to digital services BBC.com and UKTV Play. The year also saw BBC Studios make record levels of investment in content.
These investments, together with difficult operating conditions, including softness in the commissioning and advertising sales markets and higher revenues from multi-year deals in 22/23 due to phasing, resulted in BBC Studios achieving sales of £1.8 billion (2023: £2.1 billion) and EBITDA of £202 million (2023: £252 million), the third consecutive year the business has posted EBITDA over £200 million.
Tom Fussell, CEO BBC Commercial said: “The last financial year saw good progress against our strategic objectives through record investment – in content, premium digital services and select international production companies. Despite the challenging external environment we saw good underlying growth and our long term ambition to double the 2022 business remains. We will continue to take advantage of new opportunities as they arise.”
BBC Commercial is on track, to meet its five year returns commitment of £1.5bn by 2026/27 (a 30% increase on the previous five year period), with cumulative returns in year two of £693 million.
BBC Studios delivered stand-out programming, showcasing world-class creativity, and with 123 award wins from 401 nominations, the Content Studio was once again the UK’s most awarded production company. Output included series two of Time, Planet Earth III, The Famous Five and Einstein and the Bomb. BBC Studios produced seven of the top 10 performing shows in the UK across 2023, including events such as Eurovision and the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla that brought the nation together.
Across BBC Studios’ franchises, Bluey’s popularity soared globally as it became the second most streamed show in the US, with the award-winning children’s brand reaching audiences in 140 territories amid the launch of a series of sought-after consumer products. The world’s longest-running sci-fi show, Doctor Who celebrated its 60th anniversary with three one-off Christmas specials and the introduction of a new Doctor in Ncuti Gatwa, as the series debuted on Disney+. Dancing with the Stars is in more than 60 countries worldwide as the franchise celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
BBC Studios’ Global Media & Streaming operation is the new home for BritBox International, with 3.8m subscribers and growing at a rate of 25% year. UKTV gave a strong performance, increasing its share of the commercial audience in a soft advertising market, and building its free streaming service, UKTV Play. The number of international ad-funded (FAST) channels reached 36, including the BBC News Channel for the first time.
BBC Studios was ranked in the UK top 50 in Glassdoor’s prestigious ‘Best Places to Work’, as the highest-ranking TV company in the list. The accolade demonstrates the business’ focus on developing a strong, innovative culture which prioritises creativity as a key part of its strategy.
BBC Studios today also published its annual pay gap report, which this year includes data on socio-economic background for the first time, in addition to its regular reporting on gender, ethnicity, disability and LGBTQ+ employees broken down by career level band. As well as increased depth in reporting, this year’s Pay Gap Report is also the broadest analysis undertaken, reflecting recent workforce changes to the business.
This year’s report shows that median pay gaps by career band below the Senior Leader level remain low across all characteristics, with over 90% of its workforce in a career band with a pay gap of under 5%. One exception to this stable picture is with the disabled workforce and BBC Studios is actively seeking to address this through partnership with a disability recruitment specialist as well as becoming a Disability Confident Level 2 employer and participation in the industry wide TV Access Project.
Tom Fussell added: “We recognise that while we are making progress, there is still more work to do, including how we recruit and how we educate recruiting managers across the business. As BBC Studios embarks on its transformational growth journey, part of our success will be measured on our ability to grow and empower our teams to deliver results as we develop a more representative workforce.”
(Source: BBC)
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