42.  Following negotiations on the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review, the World Service received £4 million for expanding broadband video technology in key languages.[58] It stated that:

As audiences migrate away from traditional platforms, online and mobile sites will become increasingly important to BBC World Service's efforts to build its global audience. Mobile markets around the world have changed significantly in the past year and continue to develop rapidly. The BBC is striving to keep pace with industry developments and to respond to these changes quickly and effectively.[59]

Peter Horrocks emphasised that the Service needed to organise itself to allow content "to be produced cost-effectively and distributed in whatever way is appropriate to get it to audiences around the world".[60]

43.  While radio accounts for the largest proportion of the reach that the BBC World Service achieves (still with a reach of about 40 million)[61] there are some markets, for example, Brazil, where online delivery "is now far more important than radio".[62] For example, bbcbrasil.com has some 1.4 million unique weekly users in what is described as "a highly developed and competitive internet market". The BBC's Spanish site also has 1.4 million weekly users, representing a 174% increase on the number of users in 2007-08. In 2008-09, a new deal with MSN made text, video and audio content available on ten sites across Latin America in both languages,[63] and in 2008-09, six new YouTube video channels were launched, making BBC news available in Arabic, Portuguese for Brazil. Persian, Russian, Spanish and Urdu.[64] This was the first multi-language deal by a major international news broadcaster with the leading online video site.[65] Maintaining the quality of radio services while also extending to new platforms, was described by Peter Horrocks as "one of the key challenges we have to work through".[66]

44.  The World Service highlighted further developments in use of online and mobile technology: BBC Burmese became the first site to offer international news content online in the Burmese font, which has until now presented difficulties for web software. The site was previously published in English only. In addition, BBC World Service programmes in English were launched on the BBC iPlayer, making streamed and downloadable content available on demand. More than 40 programmes in English, Russian, Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Persian are also available for download through the BBC podcast service. There were more than six million BBC podcast downloads in January 2009, of which more than 86% were requested from outside the UK. BBC World Service played a major part in achieving 21% year-on-year growth in the overall number of BBC subscribers since 2008.[67]

Mobile technology

45.  In many parts of the world, for example Africa, India and China, Mr Horrocks said that the mobile telephone is becoming more important than the personal computer as a way of accessing on-demand content, describing mobile technology as a "very popular and cost-effective way of audiences consuming our content".[68] Mobile technology is making a large impact in Africa. For example, in Nigeria, 86% of online traffic to BBC News and Sport is generated by mobiles, and other mobile deals have been negotiated in Kenya, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Egypt, Sudan and Morocco. The World Service aimed to offer mobile sites in Hausa, Somali and Portuguese for Africa, Swahili and French for Africa, and for the Great Lakes Service in time for the Africa Cup of Nations in January 2010.[69] To this end, the Service is currently working with journalists to develop their skills, enabling them to write "effective and brief text stories that will be suitable for low-cost mobile delivery in places such as Africa", as well as being strong radio journalists.[70]

46.  In 2008-09 the World Service launched new mobile phone applications in Hindi and Urdu, enabling users to download news content from BBC websites. The BBC Arabic Service also extended its mobile internet availability. Nine mobile operators now offer WAP links through which users can download web content to their phones and handheld devices. Nokia launched a new internet radio application making BBC Arabic and two streams of World Service English programmes available on their latest mobile phone models. After two months, BBC Arabic was the number one application (measured by the time people spend listening).[71]

47.  In its written submission to the Committee, the World Service identified the need:

to maintain and even accelerate this (multimedia) strategy. Continued investment in FM and TV will be the engines of immediate audience growth. Looking further ahead, online and mobile may be the platforms of the future; two billion people will be online by 2013, with mobile technologies leapfrogging fixed-line internet services in many parts of south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The World Service are currently undertaking a major review of our mix of services, so we cannot yet provide any specific details about how their number, range and type will evolve.[72]

48.  We conclude that the World Service's pro-active response to the rapid growth in online and mobile technology is welcome, in view of the huge potential of this technology for reaching large and new audiences. We agree with the World Service that the key challenge is to develop multimedia platforms while maintaining the quality of the existing radio service. We recommend that the World Service should inform the Committee of the outcome of its review of the mix of services in order to define strategic priorities which identify the most effective and efficient means to disseminate material and to maximise audiences and engagement.

59   Ev 15 Back

60   Q 37 Back

61   Q 38 Back

62   Ibid. Back

63   Ev 14 Back

64   BBC World Service, Annual Review 2008-09, p 3 Back

65   Ev 14 Back

66   Q 38 Back

67   Ev 14 Back

68   Q 36 Back

69   Ev 15 Back

70   Q 36 Back

71   Ev 15 Back

72   Ev 17 Back