BBC Three returns to television in bid to attract younger viewers
THE BBC is to reinstate BBC Three as a television channel, six years after it was scrapped, in the corporation’s latest attempt to woo younger viewers.
BBC executives have conceded that moving BBC Three online in 2016 as part of a cost-cutting drive was a mistake, accelerating the exodus of young people to Youtube and US streaming services. However, the latest move will see the channel’s programme budget double from £40million as it tries to attract 16-34 year-olds.
The BBC hopes enticing this demographic back will persuade them that the annual TV licence fee is worth paying. However, critics suggested it could be too late to reverse the decline.
“The BBC’S decision to bring back BBC Three to our TVS is an acknowledgement by the broadcaster that it is failing to reach young audiences,” said Julian Knight MP, who chairs the Commons digital, culture, media and sport select committee. “I question whether putting the clock back five years is the right way to win over 18-35s. The extra investment is happening at the same time that those over 75 are being chased to pay their TV licences.”
BBC Three will return in January 2022 and share space with CBBC, the children’s channel, broadcasting from 7pm to 4am.
The channel’s hit shows include Normal People and Fleabag but its success depended in part on them being broadcast on BBC One shortly after their arrival on iplayer. The corporation’s figures also showed that nearly two thirds of viewers for Normal People were older than the intended 16-34 group. The proportion of 16 to 34-year-olds watching BBC channels and catch-up services fell from 82 per cent in 2010 to 64 per cent in 2020, according to the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board BARB.
In 2019, Ofcom warned that the BBC risked losing a generation of young viewers and that public support for the licence fee could be “eroded”.
Tom Harrington, senior television analyst for Enders Analysis, said the move back to television would make the most of the BBC’S resources. “They are using one of the advantages they have, which is prominence on the electronic programme guide. That is still very powerful. It will make shows easier to find than if they are hidden behind a tab on iplayer and never recommended.
“Charging people for the licence fee is a lot easier if they think that they’re getting value, and they can only think they’re getting value if they’re watching the programmes. But will it attract the hardest-to-reach viewers? Probably not, because they’re watching a declining amount of linear TV.”
Between 7-9pm, BBC Three will offer “pre-watershed content” suitable for viewers aged 13 and over. Younger teenagers are a critical group for the BBC as there are few programmes for them when they outgrow CBBC, meaning that they abandon the broadcaster for rival services and may not return.
The launch will take place in January pending Ofcom approval. The BBC said the television channel would help to reach viewers from ethnic minority, lower socio-economic and northern backgrounds, who “often have less access to digital on-demand services”.
Charlotte Moore, the BBC’S chief content officer, said: “The BBC needs to make sure its programmes reach as many young people as possible, wherever they live in the UK. Regardless of the debates about the past, we want to give BBC Three its own broadcast channel again. It has exciting content.”