BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2018/19 BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2018/19 Laid before the National Assembly for Wales by the Welsh Government Return to contents © BBC Copyright 2019 The text of this document (this excludes, where present, the Royal Arms and all departmental or agency logos) may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium provided that it is reproduced accurately and not in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as BBC copyright and the document title specified. Photographs are used ©BBC or used under the terms of the PACT agreement except where otherwise identified. Permission from copyright holders must be sought before any photographs are reproduced. You can download this publication from bbc.co.uk/annualreport Designed by Emperor emperor.works Prepared pursuant to the BBC Royal Charter 2016 (Article 37) Return to contents OVERVIEW Contents About the BBC 2 Inform, Educate, Entertain 4 Highlights from the year p.2 6 Award-winning content Strategic report 8 A message from the Chairman About the BBC 10 Director-General’s statement 16 Delivering our creative remit Highlights from the year and 18 – Impartial news and information award-winning content 22 – Learning for people of all ages 26 – Creative, distinctive, quality output 34 – Reflecting the UK’s diverse communities 48 – Reflecting the UK to the world 55 Audiences and external context 56 – Audience performance and market context 58 – Performance by Service 61 – Public Service Broadcasting expenditure p.8 62 – Charitable work 63 – Environmental sustainability 64 – Audience engagement report Forewords from the Chairman 66 Commercial operations and Director-General 68 – BBC Studios 73 – BBC Global News 74 – BBC Studioworks 75 – Governance of BBC’s Commercial Holdings 76 Our people 87 Finance and operations Governance Commercial operations 98 BBC Board 100 Executive Committee p.66 100 Next Generation Committee 101 Corporate Compliance Report 102 Remuneration Report 111 Pay disclosures 120 NAO opinion on pay disclosures 121 Nominations Committee Report 122 Audit and Risk Committee Report p.55 127 Risks and opportunities 132 Viability Statement 133 Commercial Holdings Board Report 134 Editorial Guidelines and Standards Audiences and external context Committee Report A look at the performance of our network 136 Nations Committee Reports television and radio services 138 Fair Trading Report 140 Independent Fair Trading Auditors’ Report 141 Statement of Board responsibilities 142 Performance against public commitments 166 Nations’ data packs 183 NAO opinion on Nations’ data packs Delivering our creative remit Financial statements How we’ve met the requirements 185 Certificate and Report of the Comptroller of our public purposes and Auditor General 202 Consolidated income statement p.16 202 Consolidated statement of comprehensive (loss)/income 203 Consolidated balance sheet 204 Consolidated statement of changes in equity 205 Consolidated cash flow statement 206 Key themes for the BBC p.258 207 Notes to the accounts Additional information 258 Equality Information Report Equality Information Report 284 Index 285 Copyright and photographer credits 286 Contact information and feedback p.184 p.96 Detailed financial statements Governance Return to contents BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2018/19 1 ABOUT THE BBC Inform, Educate, Entertain Our mission has remained the same for almost 100 years. We act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain. 1. To provide impartial news and 4. To reflect, represent We deliver information to help people and serve the diverse to understand and engage communities of all of the our public with the world around them. UK’s nations and regions and, in doing so, support 2. To support learning for purposes… the creative economy people of all ages. across the UK. 3. To show the most creative, 5. To reflect the UK, its culture highest quality and distinctive and values to the world. Read more on pages 16-54 output and services. Record-breaking dramas recommending programmes based … creating The finale of Bodyguard was the UK’s on their tastes and preferences in most watched episode of any drama series BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds. across all channels since current records cutting-edge Dynasties began, in 2002, attracting 17.1 million Reframing the nature documentary, this viewers (consolidated figures). The first landmark series averaged over 7.5 million content… series of Killing Eve was a hit with younger viewers per episode across the series audiences and has been requested and was released in ultra HD on iPlayer. 42.5 million times on BBC iPlayer. At the heart of the action A channel for modern Scotland There were 66.8 million requests Launched in February 2019, BBC Scotland for all FIFA World Cup action across features a mix of documentary, popular BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport. factual and entertainment, comedy, drama, news and current affairs and sport. Channel of the Year CBeebies was named Channel of Personalisation the Year at the Royal Television With over 17 million people now Society Programme Awards. signing into their BBC Account every month, we’re starting to deliver more Read more on pages 4-7 and 26-33 personalised experiences – such as Television and the Channel Islands. The BBC … broadcasting Nine pan-UK television services, including World Service television, radio and online-only youth service BBC Three. online in more than 40 languages. National and regional television across multiple Online services across England, Northern Online services including BBC News, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, including Sport, Weather, CBBC and CBeebies, channels… the new BBC Scotland channel. iPlayer, BBC Sounds, BBC Bitesize, Radio BBC Red Button and our vast Ten pan-UK radio networks and archive via a variety of internet- two national radio services each in connected devices including tablets, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. smartphones and connected Read more on pages 16-54 40 local radio stations across England televisions – as well as computers. 2 BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2018/19 Multi award-winning drama, Bodyguard Return to contents OVERVIEW BBC staff Knowledge sharing … working Our people are talented, diverse, BBC engineers have always been dedicated and passionate. They make at the forefront of technological with talent us what we are. development. We provide a ‘centre of excellence’, sharing advances and Partnerships best practice across the industry. from across We work with organisations that share our passion for creativity, Training the creative quality and distinctiveness. We are committed to offering training and development to everyone. In Investment 2018/19 90% of BBC staff completed The BBC is a major investor in the UK industries… one or more training course. creative industries, contributing hundreds Read more on pages 76-86 and 159 of millions of pounds to the wider sector. Investing as much money as possible … ensuring in delivering great content and services value for Reduction in overheads Senior managers 95% of the BBC’s controllable spend Senior managers now make up just 1.4% money for our this year was focused on content of our total public service employees. and delivery, just 5% was spent Total cost savings audiences… on running the organisation. £153 million of annual savings were Dividends from commercial subsidiaries delivered during the year, taking the A total of £73 million was declared to cumulative savings to £397 million. See pages 88 and 184 for more the BBC Group from BBC Studios, BBC information Studioworks and BBC Global News. 17/18 17/18 17/18 17/18 … and delivering 74 % 75% 74 % 75% 71% 72% 76% 77% % of UK adults % of UK adults % of UK adults % of UK adults on our mission. who say the BBC is who say the BBC is who say the BBC is who say the BBC effective at informing, effective at informing effective at educating is effective at educating and people in the UK people in the UK entertaining people entertaining people (10% say ineffective. (10% say ineffective. in the UK (9% say in the UK (10% say 17/18: 9%). 17/18: 9%). ineffective. 17/18: 7%). ineffective. 17/18: 8%). Source: Ipsos MORI Source: Ipsos MORI Source: Ipsos MORI Source: Ipsos MORI Read more on pages 55-61 Return to contents BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2018/19 3 ABOUT THE BBC Highlights from the year This year saw an astonishing 3.6 billion programme requests on iPlayer, the arrival of a dedicated channel for Scotland, the launch of BBC Sounds and the announcement of a major new streaming service. We continue to bring audiences, across the UK and around the globe, award-winning content on television, on radio and online. 91% BBC Sounds Adult reach As part of our ongoing commitment to Percentage of UK adults who use BBC reinvent the BBC for a new generation, television, radio or online each week. we have launched BBC Sounds, a brand new audio product bringing BritBox 2017/18: 92% together our live and on demand radio, We announced BritBox, a new Target: 88-93% music and podcasts into a single personalised product. subscription service with ITV which will feature the biggest collection of British content available on any streaming service for UK audiences. 7/10 General impression Audiences’ general impression of the BBC (mean average). 2017/18: 7/10 Target: 6-7/10 18:00 Killing Eve Total time spent The first episode of the incredible Killing Eve Length of time UK adult audiences spend became the second-best performing BBC iPlayer 42.5m with the BBC each week on average. episode ever, with 9.2 million requests, whilst 2017/18: 19:12 the series overall had 42.5 million requests by the end of December – the second biggest iPlayer requests by Target: 17:15-18:45 drama box set iPlayer has ever seen.