The BBC has published two reports today to demonstrate how it has supported the UK production sector and invested in diversity.
The first publication, The BBC Commissioning Supply report looks at the impact of the corporation on the UK production sector over the last 12 months.
In total it has commissioned over £1.4bn of original TV content and is working with more producers than any other broadcaster or streaming company.
64% of its network hours came from the nations and regions and it spent £44m+ on diverse content.
“We’d like to thank all the producers, talent and partners we worked with in 21/22 who helped us inspire audiences, meet our commitments and improve how we work as an industry. We look forward to delivering more value for audiences and the UK creative sector over the coming year,” stated David Pembrey, Chief Operating Officer, BBC Content.
The report also stated that it had built more partnerships than ever and invested in new relationships in the North East.
Last year the BBC:
Worked with 334 producers, with 59 new producers commissioned. It used 36 new nations and regions producers, and 61% were outside of London;
54% of Network television spend was outside of London
74% of Small Indie Fund companies were also based outside of the capital
24 commissioners based in the Nations and Regions.
Diversity Commitment
The second report is the BBC’s update on its Creative Diversity Commitment. This prioritises £112m of its existing commissioning budget from 2021-2024 towards diverse and inclusive content.
So far, it has invested £44m in 67 programmes across all genres. These were made by 48 different independent production companies, 73% of which had diverse leadership and 10% had never been commissioned by the BBC before.
£4m has been spent on 90 diverse radio commissions.
This is backed by an “expectation” that for all new commissions since 2021, production companies should recruit 20% of their production team from under-represented groups.
“The BBC is for everyone and audiences from all backgrounds rightly expect to see themselves represented in our programmes,” said June Sarpong, BBC Director of Creative Diversity.
“That’s why we are leading the way by making the biggest financial investment to on-air inclusion in the industry. I’m delighted by the progress we’ve made in the first year which is an important milestone and provides a solid foundation for us to go even further to ensure the BBC truly reflects the public we serve.”
