BBC’s £50m to track viewing

THE BBC has set aside £50million for market research into what people watch and how to reach ‘diverse audiences’.

The cash will be used to track what viewers watch and ‘provide an insight from a range of demographic groups’.

A jargon-riddled notice inviting firms to take on the work says up to £42million could be spent on ‘data collection and processing and brand tracking studies’.

A further £7million could go to research sampling ‘harder-to-reach, niche and diverse audiences’. The remainder will focus on children’s viewing.

The project, to run from 2023 to 2027, comes after director-general Tim Davie warned of brutal cuts to popular programmes because of the Government’s two-year licence fee freeze.

Julian Knight, Commons digital committee chairman, told the Daily Mail: ‘It staggers me that they’re looking at spending that sort of money at a time like this.’

The BBC was unable to say last night how market research could cost such a huge amount, but said £50million was the upper limit and it may cost less.