Memorandum from the BBC World Service
BBC WORLD SERVICE—BUILDING
GLOBAL IMPACT
IN THE
21ST CENTURY
1. At the beginning of the 21st century
the World Service's role as the world's reference point is as
important as at any time in its history. The proposed strategy
for 2003-06 combines an appropriate long-term response to the
changed global context after 11 September, particularly in relation
to South West Asia and the Arab world, and to changing audience
needs, brought about by technological and competitive developments
in critical markets. It will enable us to build on our current
success:
— Our measured global audience is currently
150 million—far above any other international radio broadcaster.
— The World Service has expanded its
FM presence to 129 capital cities in the world, reaching at least
22 million listeners and giving it a new level of competitiveness
in increasingly sophisticated markets.
— Traffic to our online sites has more
than doubled in the past year to 75 million page impressions a
month in March 2002, already meeting targets for 2004.
— In 2001 the World Service won the
prestigious Webby award, being judged the world's best radio website
on the Internet.
— Our online discussion forums are
attracting influential audiences to global political debates involving
world figures such as Nelson Mandela, Vladimir Putin, and King
Abdullah of Jordan.
— 24 per cent of opinion formers and
decision makers in Boston, New York and Washington listen to the
World Service each week.
— An independent survey among MPs rated
BBC World Service as the leading British brand name, scoring far
higher than any other brand.
— The World Service has risen to the
challenges posed by the events of 11 September by expanding programming
in Pashto, Persian, and Urdu, making Arabic a 24-hour news service,
and broadcasting in English an enhanced schedule of news, current
affairs and analysis programming.
2. It is a key Government priority to secure
a modern international role for Britain, forging greater connections
and a trust between diverse global communities, developing partnerships,
promoting a more open and participative dialogue of understanding.
To do this, the role of public diplomacy is increasingly important:
communicating with key target groups abroad is as essential as
communicating with governments. The World Service should play
a pivotal role as the best known and most respected independent
voice in international broadcasting.
3. The proposed investment priorities for
2003-06 are in the following three areas:
— Increased competitiveness via FM
in critical markets.
4. In support of these investments, we will
also continue to implement our capital plan for the modernisation
of transmission and distribution assets.
GEOPOLITICAL CONTENT
INVESTMENTS
The World After 11 September
5. The terrorist attacks in the United States
have profound implications for both Britain's and the World Service's
geopolitical priorities, with an increased focus on South West
Asia and the Arab world and the global drive to eradicate terrorism.
As an immediate response to the crisis we expanded Arabic into
a 24-hour news and current affairs radio service and increased
output in Pashto, Persian and Urdu. We have also improved our
audibility to the region. As well as maintaining this increased
output, there is an overwhelming longer-term imperative to engage
with our audiences by providing a service which helps with the
rebuilding of civil society and contributes to a climate of tolerance.
6. Therefore, for the 2003-06 period we
aim to:
— substantially strengthen programming
in Pashto, Persian and Urdu, continue Arabic as a 24-hour news
service and strengthen our journalistic presence in the region;
— maintain the new MW frequency for
South West Asia;
— launch a sustained series of programming
initiatives aimed at opening up the debate on such issues as Islam
and democracy, models of governance and concepts of justice in
World Service languages for the area;
— expand programming for Central Asia
in Uzbek and Azeri.
Africa
7. The state of Africa is, in Tony Blair's
words, "a scar on the conscience of the world". As the
leading international broadcaster in Africa, the World Service
is in a unique position to foster a pan-African and global debate
to help overcome the decades of poverty, conflict and poor governance.
The World Service therefore proposes for the 2003-06 period:
— a new daily programme for Africa
in English which drives the development debate forward;
— increased newsgathering throughout
the continent to improve reporting and relevance;
— building closer relationships with
FM partner stations;
— integrating the successful but temporary
lifeline programming for the Great Lakes region of Africa into
core Grant in Aid.
Europe
8. As the European Union moves towards enlargement,
the World Service can act as the most authoritative Europe-wide
source of information and analysis on this historic development
and a facilitator for informed debate, targeting opinion formers
across the continent. We propose to:
— introduce new flagship programmes
in English aimed specifically at European decision makers;
— provide high profile interactive
discussion forums across online and radio.
China
9. The growing contradiction between economic
power and political repression makes this a pivotal period. As
China joins the WTO, we propose to introduce:
— a daily flagship Asia business programme
in English (which is not jammed), thereby enhancing our brand
presence among opinion formers and aspirants in China.
Landmark Series
10. Ambition and distinction are the hallmarks
of special series on major global issues produced by the World
Service across radio and online. We aim to build on this distinctive
role by creating:
— a regular series of landmark radio
programmes over the settlement period on global issues that are
directly linked to new interactive online World Forum debates.
Subjects will include: Global Security and Terrorism, Islam in
the 21st Century, Development and Democracy.
ONLINE DEVELOPMENTS
11. The pace of growth in Internet access
remains exceptionally strong with the number of online users increasing
by 25 per cent over the past 12 months. Today there are some 513
million people online, with 1.2 billion users projected by 2005-06
and much of the growth coming in Asia, Latin America and Eastern
Europe. Research emphasises that today's Internet users in developed
countries expect sophisticated news sites with a wide range and
depth of content, presented in a rich multimedia mix of text,
audio and video. Consumers also want a greater sense of engagement
and participation through interactivity and communities of interest.
12. In order to ensure that BBC World Service
remains competitive in English and the other key online languages
we will invest £9.3 million by Year 3 on:
— Greater depth and breadth of content
in a range of subjects for our major sites in English, Arabic,
Chinese, Russian, Persian and Spanish.
— World Forums—promoting engagement
through interactivity. Building on our position as the world's
most trusted source of news we will establish the World Service
as the premier forum for high profile interactive debate across
radio and online in key languages.
— Upgraded languages. By applying two
different criteria, online market maturity and geopolitical importance,
we have identified five languages which need to be upgraded over
the period 2003-2006: Polish, Czech, Serbian, Turkish and Bengali.
— Regionalisation. Providing better
regional focus and navigation to ensure that we are competitive
in our relevance to local audiences.
— Multimedia. Enriching media content
to key language sites, including video clips.
INCREASING COMPETITIVENESS
VIA FM IN
CRITICAL MARKETS
13. Across the developing world, media market
deregulation is continuing rapidly. Cosmopolitan and aspirant
listeners in major conurbations now regard FM as a minimum standard
of audibility. This presents considerable new competitive challenges
for the World Service if we are to maintain our position as the
best known and most respected voice in international broadcasting,
particularly in the major cities of the world.
In India, the first countrywide survey in 10
years has revealed a significant drop in the World Service weekly
audience—down 12 million listeners. This falls in line with
a major decline in overall radio listening there. Only one in
four Indians listen regularly, half the number a decade ago. Stemming
this decline through access to FM and medium-wave in India is
critical for us. In South Russia, the World Service audience has
already declined from 9.3 per cent reach in 1997 to 3.2 per cent
reach in 2000. In Moscow, only 37 per cent of the population now
own a short wave radio.
14. To remain competitive, the World Service
must enter the second phase of its FM strategy with five clear
lines of investment, amounting to a spend of £6.4 million
by Year 3.
— Expand the FM network to new target
capitals and major cities.
— Enhance existing FM presence in terms
of hours of World Service output being broadcast to reinforce
and safeguard our position.
— Provide a syndication delivery system
for FM rebroadcasters in English.
— Critical market response: India
— pursue rebroadcasting deals with
appropriate Indian FM partners;
— develop joint productions on current
affairs, business and science.
— Critical market response: Russia
— pursue rebroadcasting deals with
appropriate Russian FM partners;
— improve news, current affairs and
business programming suitable for FM rebroadcasting partners.
CAPITAL
15. The capital plan is structured to support
the Three Year Plan in two ways:
— It provides for the modernisation
of transmission assets that are due for replacement or upgrade
as part of the World Service 10-year capital plan.
— It ensures that the World Service
is digitally capable to compete effectively across existing, expanding
and new platforms.
Modernising Transmitters
16. Short wave is the World Service's primary
distribution method, delivering 75 per cent of the global audience.
It will remain critical for broadcasting to all least developed
and most of the developing markets for many years to come. Equipment
on a number of transmitter sites has now reached the end of its
economic life. This plan will ensure the continued modernisation
of transmitters vital to retain the World Service core audience.
17. Digital Capability
— Production: The roll-out of the "GoDigital"
technology to overseas offices and English news and production
will enable the increasing amounts of content originating overseas
and in general programme production to be integrated into the
new Bush House system.
— Distribution: Upgrade of the global
satellite distribution system (GDS) to support FM expansion and
piloting of digital radio (DRM) in Europe.
OUTCOMES
18. By 2006, in agreement with the FCO,
the investments outlined in this document will deliver the following
benefits:
— Attracting a global World Service
radio audience of 153 million listeners per week or at the highest
level achieved in the current three-year period
— The highest reach of all international
broadcasters in priority markets among target audience groups,
in particular cosmopolitans, proven through a regular series of
tracker surveys
— The highest awareness of all international
broadcasters in priority markets among target audience groups,
in particular cosmopolitans, proven through a regular series of
tracker surveys
— The highest ratings among international
broadcasters for trust and objectivity of news content, measured
through bespoke surveys
— Global World Service online traffic
levels of 200 million monthly page impressions by 2006
(A new industry-wide method is being developed
to monitor the number of users. Once this is available, reporting
of unique users will supplement page impressions.)
— Distinctively recognised as the leading
global radio and online forum for debate, measured through high
awareness ratings in annual panel surveys
— Presence on FM across the world in
at least 145 capitals (75 per cent of the global total) by 2006
and, in particular, in critical markets:
— Stemming the audience decline in
Russia and India
EFFICIENCY AND
REPRIORITISATION
19. World Service will meet the challenges
set by HM Treasury in respect of both year on year efficiency
savings of at least 2 per cent and reprioritising at least 5 per
cent of 2003-04 spend by the end of the three year period.
EFFICIENCY
20. World Service has a strong track record
of achieving challenging efficiency savings targets. Over the
past five years savings of 15 per cent have been made. We have
included a commitment to achieve further savings of at least 2
per cent on baselines in each of 2004-05 and 2005-06.
21. World Service now spends almost 90 per
cent of its funding directly on content production and delivery,
with only 10 per cent going on overheads and support charges.
The equivalent figure for BBC Home Services was 81 per cent in
2000-01, with a target of 85 per cent for 2003-04.
22. At the same time the average costs-per-hour
of original production also compare very favourably with BBC Home
Services and have reduced over time to below £2,000 per hour.
REPRIORITISATION
23. HM Treasury requires that World Service
identify at least 5 per cent of the Grant in Aid available for
2003-04 that will be reprioritised by the end of the three year
period. In recent years we have significantly changed the way
in which funds are spent, in a context of FCO agreed targets,
to meet changing audience needs (see over).
24. Looking ahead to the three years 2003-06,
World Service has identified further activity equalling at least
6.8 per cent of the total DEL baseline which will be reprioritised
and re-invested. This will be achieved largely through the impact
of the Go Digital project, approved by FCO and Treasury in July
2001, which will be nearing completion as the new spending review
period opens. The project involves the replacement of outdated
analogue production equipment with a modern digital system. Its
impact will be felt right across the World Service language production
areas in a number of different ways.
NET FUNDING
REQUIREMENTS
25. An increase in the Grant in Aid over
the three years 2003-06 of £10.5 million, £26.0 million
and £35.2 million in operating expenditure and of £0
million, £3 million and £1.5 million in capital is needed
to finance new investments and ensure the World Service remains
the world's best known and most respected voice in international
broadcasting:
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