Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 13
72nd Report - BBC World Service
Published 13 Mar 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee BBC World Service 2024-25 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
In May 2022, the BBC announced its intention to move from traditional broadcast radio and TV outputs to online platforms as part of digital-first strategy. The strategy aimed to migrate audiences from closed TV and radio services to BBC websites and social platforms so that reach could be sustained while delivering savings.29 However, since 2021–22, the World Service’s overall digital audience has declined by 11% to 131 million, and TV and radio services have fallen by a fifth in the same period. Total audiences fell by 47 million from 2021–22 to 2022–23 and then by a further 5 million up to 2024–25, indicating that online consumption had not replaced the reach lost from broadcast closures at that point. In 2022–23, the BBC estimated that broadcast closures accounted for around 30 million of the 47 million fall in overall audience.30
From: Public Accounts Committee, 72nd Report - BBC World Service (HC 1299), 13 March 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 1 June 2026 (deadline 13 May 2026).