14 Accepted

Performance varied widely across services.

Conclusion
Performance varied widely across services. Language services that became digital-only in 2022–23 saw overall audiences fall by 63% and their digital audiences by 39%, while services that closed either radio or TV but retained the other declined by less. Within the digital-only group, declines were concentrated in Nigerian language services, which the BBC told us reflected Facebook’s deprioritisation of news in its algorithm. Over the same period, the World Service’s Facebook reach globally fell by 17% to 46 million. The BBC did not analyse why performance varied across services, nor evaluate common factors behind stronger or weaker results, and it has not analysed the extent to which the savings programmes and digital strategy affected digital-only services.31
Government Response Summary
The BBC agrees with the committee's observation and is implementing new annual and three-year planning cycles with formal business reviews, redesigning digital reporting dashboards, and conducting comprehensive market reviews by September 2026. These measures aim to better understand digital performance variations and ensure effective digital transformation.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government Accepted
3.1 The BBC agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: September 2026 3.2 New annual and three-year planning cycles are now being put in place for the World Service, with formal annual and quarterly business reviews running globally and in the regions. 3.3 The need for accelerated digital transformation is being consistently communicated to teams - including in the setting and communication of digital targets. The dashboard for digital reporting has been redesigned. The three-year plan has clearly articulated the strategic goals around digital transformation and migration of audiences from traditional TV and radio audiences to digital platforms in all regions. A cross-organisational initiative has been developed to significantly improve the BBC’s reach amongst women on digital platforms. This has shown strong results, with 11 million more women consuming the World Service since the formal launch of the initiative in November 2026. More comprehensive market reviews are being carried out to ensure digital maturity and readiness, ensuring that in markets of greatest need, digital transformation does not come at the cost of being able to reach key audiences. 3.4 Digital platform and format training and expertise sharing are continuing apace. In the latest fiscal period (following the start of the new regional governance structure, and after the period examined by the NAO), digital performance has strengthened substantially. The latest available digital data estimate for financial year 2025-26 shows a significant 36% increase in World Service global digital growth. As per the Global Audience Measure (2025), World Service digital reach (131 million) is greater than that of either TV (103 million) or radio (127 million). The full implementation of the regional governance model, along with the planning cycle and communication improvements, will ensure that digital performance is equally strong in each of the six regions.
Addressee Bodies
HM Treasury
Timeline
Recommendation age 0.4 yrs
Report published 13 Mar 2026