BBC Attempts To Prove People Can’t Live Without It Through Landmark Study; 70% Of Naysayers Wanted It Back After Nine Days

The BBC has attempted to prove its worth in the face of the incoming licence fee freeze by publishing a landmark study in which households had to go without all of the corporation’s services for nine days.

Releasing data as Director General Tim Davie prepares to address the Voice of the Listener & Viewer (VLV) Conference, the BBC said 70% of the households who initially wanted to pay nothing or less than the £159 ($200.54) per year fee had u-turned by the end of the study.

According to the study conducted by research company MTM, the main reason households gave for changing their minds was underestimating the amount of BBC content and services they consumed such as high-profile drama, live sport, children’s channels and audio platform BBC Sounds.

Those researched, of which there were 200, varied in size, age range and background and included singles, couples, young and older families, and shared homes.

The 200 went without all BBC content for the period and were also not permitted to watch BBC content on platforms such as Netflix and YouTube, both of which host many of the corporation’s shows.

The research comes as the BBC desperately tries to prove its worth to the UK public after having the licence fee frozen for the next two years, which will leave it having to make savings of around £1.5BN ($1.9BN) over the next five years. More detail on incoming cuts is to be set out next month.

“A universal BBC has a unique place in UK life,” said a BBC source. “No one is complacent – we know we have to earn that support, provide something for everyone and continue to offer great value.”

Responding to criticism that it is overly representative of middle class metropolitan people, the BBC yesterday published a Levelling Up and the BBC report that said it would place an apprentice on every one of its shows and target 25% representation of people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Overall, the BBC will double its number of apprentices to 1,000 by 2025/26 and similarly increase its mentor network to 800.

“Levelling Up” is a favored term of the British government when discussing improving deprived parts of the country and the BBC was clearly keen to tap into this rhetoric, coming at a tricky time that has seen an exodus of Black people working in its diversity department and the loss of key presenters such as Emily Maitlis, Andrew Marr and Jon Sopel.

Davie will address the VLV Conference Wednesday morning UK to discuss the findings in more detail.