BBC ANNUAL REPORT 2020/21 RELEASED

Time spent with the BBC went up to 18 hrs two minutes - from 17 hrs 45 minutes on average, per week. Over 28 million people came to the BBC for evening entertainment on an average day, and since April 2020 our brilliant content has won 130 awards.

BBC iPlayer attracted record audiences with 6.1 billion streams - up 28 percent on last year, and in January, there were a record 163 million streams in one week, as viewers devoured programmes like The Serpent, A Perfect Planet, Traces and EastEnders. The picture is moving swiftly.

In recent weeks an incredible 39 million people have watched the Euros, and 20 million have watched Wimbledon on the BBC this summer so far - with the Olympics and the Hundred still to come.

In 2020/21 there were 1.3bn billion plays on BBC Sounds, with 900,000 more 16-34 year-olds using it for the first time in last six months, exceeding expectations.

In a year of complex news, as the UK battled the global coronavirus pandemic, audiences for the BBC News At Six were the largest in almost two decades. BBC One’s 6.30pm bulletin in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions is the UK’s most watched news programme.

BBC Director General Tim Davie says: “The BBC has delivered outstanding content and value to audiences in extraordinary circumstances this year. I am proud of all we have achieved to inform, educate and entertain the Nation in record numbers during the pandemic.

“The BBC is responding to global competition and pressure on our finances. But, we know we must do much more to ensure licence fee payers across the UK get best value from the BBC, to maintain their trust and provide a service they cannot do without. I am absolutely focussed on making the reforms we need to ensure the BBC is positioned to offer all audiences the best possible service well into the future.”

The Annual Report and Accounts 2020/21 can be found here.