BBC director-general Tim Davie (pictured) has used the UK public broadcaster’s 2024/2025 annual report to declare that its digital transformation “continues at pace”.
For the year in question, Davie said that the BBC saw record growth for streaming platform iPlayer “with a total 8.9 billion requests – up nearly 10% year-on-year. BBC Sounds grew to 2.6 billion plays and saw a record-breaking start to 2025. More than a third of UK adults use BBC News online on average per week, and the BBC News app is the number one app in the UK for monthly reach.”
The report added that the BBC is continuing to “grow our digital products” while “creating new roles in growth areas such as digital content.” Among highlights, it said that the BBC Proms achieved record-breaking digital audiences.
A lot of the report focuses on the performance of in-house platforms including BBC iPlayer and BBC Online, which reported 23.6m weekly active users for the period in questions. But there was also some insight into the digital-first activities of the corporation’s commercial/production arm BBC Studios.
Tom Fussell, CEO, BBC Commercial, said: “BBC Studios’ digital brands now reach a global weekly audience of over 40 million people in 17 languages, led by the stellar popularity of Bluey as it became the most streamed programme in the US. As the BBC’s audio production teams joined BBC Studios to expand the BBC’s commercial audio services, audiences enjoyed the award-winning podcast To Catch a Scorpion.”
Fussell also highlighted BBC Studios’ growth in the FAST sector, saying: “The business offers a wide range of channels. Built around 19 brands, these span a range of genres, and include a FAST BBC News Channel, which launched in 2024.”
Looking at its activities on third-party social platforms, the BBC report said: “Across its portfolio of brands within the year, BBC Studios had the highest YouTube watch time and TikTok engagement rate compared to any major UK broadcaster and most streaming services. A dedicated team creates, commissions, and curates content that reaches viewers wherever they are, achieving some 14 billion social video views across around 150 channels in 2024, including TikTok and YouTube, with watch time on the latter almost doubling year-on-year. Original commissions include Bluey’s Book Reads which has reached over 75 million views to date, and Bluey minisodes, which are now available on both digital and linear platforms.”
Drilling further into kids, the report added: “While iPlayer serves as the primary destination for the BBC’s high-impact, distinctively British children’s content – streaming hours increased by over 30% in the last two years – we’re also making our content available on other platforms, going to where the audience is, for example, with Newsround bulletins on YouTube and an educational partnership with Roblox.”
