I begin every day by checking the BBC News website – before I’ve even got out of bed – to see what has been happening overnight. Later I catch the BBC World Service, which local broadcaster ABC carries on FM radio at certain times of day. And if you switch on the TV here there’s always some excellent BBC programme on.
So it was a pleasure to host Tim Davie, London-based CEO of BBC Worldwide, for a dinner discussion in Sydney with a number of top executives from the media-buying advertising world. Tim described it as an exciting time for content providers as a proliferation of distribution channels creates multiple ways for consumers to access their product.
Australia is the BBC’s third largest market after the UK and US. They sell content to ABC and other media companies, have their own channels on cable, and a global i-player. Together with DVDs, formats, merchandise and events like the Top Gear tour it amounts to a big business worth well over $100m a year. Major BBC brands like Doctor Who are huge here: the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular is selling out around Australia.
Tim described the changing environment in which broadcasters, telcos, web platforms and even electronics manufacturers compete to deliver content, whilst consumers become more selective about what and when they watch. For the advertisers around the table this creates an ever more complicated picture of what represents best value for money for the brands they represent, and how they measure the effectiveness of that advertising.
For the BBC, the globally respected quality of its content and reputation of its news coverage are key competitive strengths. BBC Worldwide is a £1.1 bn business and currently reaches 300m people worldwide. Tim’s goal is to take that to 500m.