BBC Studios, the BBC’s main commercial arm, announced its annual results for the 2023/24 period. The company made a series of key strategic investments in year, most notably taking full ownership of BritBox International, expanding its international production footprint with new acquisitions in Scandinavia, Spain and Australia, both completed and announced in year, and, as signaled in last year’s annual report, enhancements to digital services BBC.com and UKTV Play. The year also saw BBC Studios make record levels of investment in content. These investments, including softness in the commissioning and advertising sales markets and higher revenues from multi-year deals in 22/23 due to phasing, resulted in BBC Studios achieving sales of £1.8 billion (2023: £2.1 billion) and EBITDA of £202 million (2023: £252 million), the third consecutive year the business has posted EBITDA over £200 million.
Tom Fussell, CEO BBC Commercial said: “The last financial year saw good progress against our strategic objectives through record investment - in content, premium digital services and select international production companies. Despite the challenging external environment we saw good underlying growth and our long term ambition to double the 2022 business remains. We will continue to take advantage of new opportunities as they arise.”
BBC Commercial is on track to meet its five year returns commitment of £1.5bn by 2026/27 (a 30% increase on the previous five year period), with cumulative returns in year two of £693 million.
With 123 award wins from 401 nominations, the Content Studio was once again the UK’s most awarded production company. Output included series two of “Time,” “Planet Earth III,” “The Famous Five” and “Einstein and the Bomb.” BBC Studios produced seven of the top 10 performing shows in the UK across 2023, including events such as “Eurovision” and the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
Across BBC Studios’ franchises, “Bluey” became the second most streamed show in the U.S., with the award-winning children’s brand reaching audiences in 140 territories amid the launch of a series of sought-after consumer products. “Doctor Who” celebrated its 60th anniversary with three one-off Christmas specials and the introduction of a new Doctor in Ncuti Gatwa, as the series debuted on Disney+. “Dancing with the Stars” is in more than 60 countries worldwide as the franchise celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
BBC Studios’ Global Media & Streaming operation is the new home for BritBox International, with 3.8m subscribers and growing at a rate of 25% year. UKTV gave a strong performance, increasing its share of the commercial audience in a soft advertising market, and building its free streaming service, UKTV Play. The number of international ad-funded (FAST) channels reached 36, including the BBC News Channel for the first time.
BBC Studios today also published its annual pay gap report, which this year includes data on socio-economic background for the first time, in addition to its regular reporting on gender, ethnicity, disability and LGBTQ+ employees broken down by career level band. As well as increased depth in reporting, this year’s Pay Gap Report is also the broadest analysis undertaken, reflecting recent workforce changes to the business.
Tom Fussell concluded: “We recognise that while we are making progress, there is still more work to do, including how we recruit and how we educate recruiting managers across the business. As BBC Studios embarks on its transformational growth journey, part of our success will be measured on our ability to grow and empower our teams to deliver results as we develop a more representative workforce.”