Across the world, public service broadcasters are facing an existential challenge. Audience habits are shifting; and decades of economic, technological, social, and political pressures have come to a head. For broadcasters, survival isn’t just about being the fittest, but about understanding these forces, and connecting dots between fragmented lives.
Beyond content; towards context
The world is changing fast. People are navigating rising costs, a fraught geopolitical climate, siloed social feeds, and an online-first news cycle. They feel empowered by choice, distrustful of traditional broadcasting, and on all sides of the spectrum, want to feel more represented by the media they consume. For legacy broadcasters like the BBC, this poses a challenge. How can it resonate with an increasingly diverse audience while remaining relevant? How can it ensure broad appeal while retaining journalistic integrity?
Using the Yonder Clockface to keep pace with expectations
To help BBC leaders better understand their audience, we’ve gone beyond traditional polling and employed the full-service Yonder Clockface. Layer by layer, we’ve mapped how viewers see the BBC, how they see the world, and how shifting values are affecting expectations for public service broadcasting.
This full-spectrum vision has guided decisions across commissioning, policy, and strategy to ensure that the BBC remains relevant to all, without losing any one group.
Finding impartiality in a polarised world
The BBC is unique; no other broadcaster must balance such a vast range of audience expectations, both domestically and globally. They’ve made a commitment to impartiality, and yet what feels impartial to one group may seem biased to another. Our work has provided the BBC with a strategic blueprint for representing diverse perspectives, ensuring it serves the whole audience rather than tilting toward any single segment.
From reactive to predictive
Understanding an audience’s current expectations is one thing; predicting their future needs is entirely another. Alongside our segmentation work, we’ve acquired expert intelligence from media executives, technology analysts, arts leaders, and policymakers, and filtered this through the Yonder lens. Blending meticulous research and expert analysis has turned up invaluable insights about the future of public service broadcasting. It ensures that the BBC isn’t just reacting to shifts, but preparing for the future with clarity and confidence.
Shaping the future of public service broadcasting
For over a decade, our work has informed critical BBC decisions, including the £250M decision on whether to fund the licence fee for over-75s; the Director General’s strategic vision for the company; a new framework for impartiality; and measures to improve the UK’s creative economy.
By delivering the full picture – audience realities, expert perspectives, and strategic foresight – we’ve helped the BBC not just navigate change, but stay ahead of it. At a time when cultural relevance is under the spotlight, the BBC continues to lead – not by following trends, but understanding the people it serves.
Sector
Media
Geography
UK
What we did
Audience understanding
Customer segmentation
Business strategy
Innovation strategy