Ofcom has published its annual report on the BBC, assessing the corporation’s performance in meeting the needs of viewers and listeners during the period April 2024 to March 2025. The report also includes the findings of Ofcom’s second ‘Periodic Review’ of the BBC.

Drawing on extensive audience research, industry data and stakeholder information, the report provides an evidence base which Government can draw on as it undertakes its Charter review.

Against a backdrop of funding pressures and a rapidly changing media landscape, the report finds that the BBC remains popular with audiences, with 83 per cent of UK adults using its services weekly in 2024/25. The BBC has also achieved strong levels of overall audience satisfaction (60 per cent in 2024/25), while there are early signs that engagement with younger audiences is improving.

Ofcom’s audience research shows that the BBC has remained the most popular source of news during the current Charter period (since 2017). Ofcom’s most recent figures from May 2025 showed that 70 per cent of regular BBC TV news viewers rated the BBC highly for accuracy, with a similar proportion for trust (68 per cent).

However, the BBC has recently faced a significant crisis involving editorial decision-making at the heart of its news and current affairs output. Ofcom has previously warned – and now reaffirms – that the BBC Board and Executive must take a firmer grip and act swiftly and transparently when controversies or failures arise.

Addressing audience concerns about impartiality and holding itself to account when things go wrong is critical for the BBC to uphold and maintain audience trust. This must be a firm focus for the BBC as it resets to deliver for audiences in the next Charter period and beyond.

To provide an external lens, Ofcom is going to undertake work looking at the drivers of audience trust in the BBC and will publish a Terms of Reference early in 2026.

As Ofcom set out in its review of Public Service Media, ‘Transmission Critical’, securing the future success and sustainability of the PSM system, requires collective action from broadcasters, Government, social media and Ofcom.

To meet these challenges and to remain relevant in the future, the BBC – which sits at the heart of the PSM system – should play to its strengths, while continuing to address areas where it needs to further improve, including by:

• Deepening its engagement with less satisfied audiences – including those on lower incomes;

• Innovating and taking risks to excite and engage, making content available where people want to watch it, such as on third party platforms; and

• Building on the successes of its ‘Across the UK’ strategy to deliver a range of content made in and made for the diverse communities of the UK’s nations and regions, while supporting their creative economies; and

• Investing in media literacy to help audiences to critically engage with news and online services.

Ofcom says it will be discussing its report with Government as part of its Charter Review. This will also include how the regulatory framework can be updated to provide the BBC with the flexibility to deliver across traditional linear services and online – while still being robustly held to account.

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Tags: BBC, Ofcom, public service media