60% of Brits ‘want BBC licence fee scrapped’
As the government prepares to release its plans for the future of the BBC, six in 10 Brits have said they believe that the Beeb should be privatised and the licence fee scrapped, according to TubeMogul, with advertising given as the top alternative.
Of the almost 1,500 respondents surveyed, 62% said that advertising would be the best way to fund the BBC in the future, while 24% said the licence fee should continue as it is. 15% agreed but believe that users of online services should also pay a fee.
The survey – that only recorded the views of people watching online videos over the last week and produced by a company that trades in digital video advertising – also revealed that 31% of said that they would be happy with advertising on the BBC if it meant not having to pay the yearly £145.50 fee, with 19% adding that the BBC should not have any advantage over other broadcasters.
14% said they would accept ads on the BBC if it meant it could turn a profit with funds going back to the public.
Just 21% said they would not want ads on the BBC as that is what paying the licence fee guarantees, while 16% said advertising would make the BBC less independent and less likely to investigate companies/advertisers that pay them.
Overall, 63% would welcome an advertising-funded BBC, compared to 37% who would rather it stay as it is.
“This poll is significant for the future of the BBC,” said Nick Reid, UK managing director of TubeMogul. “Viewership is dropping, and viewers simply don’t want to pay a fee that they feel isn’t delivering value-for-money.
“Focus in the media has been largely on the importance of the BBC’s independence. Yet, the British public don’t really care about this issue and increasingly feel that it’s time to cut Auntie Beeb’s purse strings off.”
However, in response, a BBC spokesperson said: “The TubeMogul poll, which targeted a very specific, narrow sample only asking people who had watched an online video in the previous week, does not accurately reflect the wide support for the licence fee across the country.
“A recent Ipsos MORI poll showed support for the licence fee at 48% – up from 31% in 2004 – and indeed a poll of polls of the 11 major surveys published on the licence fee over the last two years shows that support for the licence fee is higher than other potential means of funding.”
Further, research produced last week by Starcom MediaVest group found that 85% of senior level executives from the commercial departments of UK media owners feel that the BBC should remain as it is, with 75% saying they would feel more confident about their business if it was.
Moreover, 82% felt that if the BBC became privately funded it would place a “significant threat” on the media sector with national TV (89%) most at risk, followed by radio (61%), local TV (51%) and online news sites (49%).
When asked, if they were given the option, how they would fund the BBC, one respondent said it should be “publicly funded but streamlined with a supplementary commercial arm”.
Similarly, another thought that “whilst the BBC should remain publicly funded they should also sell partnerships,” while another one believed it should continue as it is now with increased options for the BBC to licence content internationally as an additional revenue stream.
Both pieces of research comes ahead of a government Green Paper, to be unveiled today, that will reveal the scale of the threat now facing the BBC and follows the earlier news that the BBC will be forced to fund free TV licences for over-75s.
The surprise deal, which will cost the BBC £750m by 2020, will be phased in from 2018/19 with the BBC taking on the full costs from 2020/21.
“The BBC is a valued national institution that produces some of the finest television and radio in the world,” said Chancellor George Osborne. “But it is also a publicly-funded body, so it is right that it, like other parts of the public sector, should make savings.
“The deal we have agreed with the Corporation means that it will take on the significant cost of TV licences for the over-75s, easing some of the pressure on taxpayers who have to meet the country’s welfare bill, while also ensuring that our promise to maintain pensioner benefits is met in full over the next five years.”