Slight drop in Scots accessing BBC content, report reveals

The BBC’s latest annual report shows that 56 per cent of adults consumed the BBC’s Scottish content on average per week during 2024/25, a percentage point down on the same period 12 months previously.

The 2024/25 report also reveals that the so-called ‘pan-BBC reach’ spanned 84 per cent of adults in Scotland, meaning that they used its television, iPlayer, radio or online information on average per week. That figure, too, is down by one per cent compared to 2023/24.

Such figures, the report explained, showed that BBC “watching levels” in Scotland were “broadly flat year on year.” The percentage of adults who watch BBC television or iPlayer on average fell back from 63 per cent to 62 per cent, with a similar trend impacting its radio coverage, down from 52 per cent to 51 per cent.

The report notes that the corporation’s total radio output in Scotland fell slightly, down from 11,450 hours in 2023/24 to 11,444 in 2024/25. By contrast, the output in Wales increased from 16,647 to 18,280 hours over the same period, with a smaller rise reported in Northern Ireland.

The report highlights a “record breaking week” during the men’s Euro 2024 football tournament, when some 48 per cent of the Scottish population watched BBC Scotland content, with record traffic of 6.6 million unique visitors to its Scottish sport website.

It also pointed to “content reflecting all of Scotland,” including dramas such as Rebus, Shetland, and Granite Harbour, as well as documentary series including Murder Trial, Inside Barlinnie, and Sir Alex.

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In an accompanying report, Muriel Gray, chair of the BBC’s Scotland committee, said that over the course of the year it had discussed and reviewed a number of “critical areas,” including major news changes introduced by BBC Scotland and Radio Scotland’s audience performances.

There was good news for the corporation in the form of a growing proportion of adults In Scotland who use BBC online on average per week. The figure was up by two percentage points to 62 per cent, with an increase of around 100,000 average weekly accounts using the iPlayer.

It also made inroads in its longstanding efforts to hold up a mirror to Scottish society, with nearly half of adults (49 per cent) of the view that the BBC is effective at reflecting people like them. That is up from 45 per cent in 2023/24.

But the proportion of Scots who think the BBC informs, educates, and entertains them and other people in the UK was down 61 per cent from 64 per cent, with the same drop recorded among adults who were asked if the BBC was effective at providing content and services that set a high standard for quality.

The report details that overall, the corporation spent £131 million on its Scottish content, up from £125m the previous year. That total includes a £42m budget for the BBC Scotland, and £23m for Radio Scotland. Its estimated income from licence fee payers in Scotland was £311m.