The BBC has published its Annual Plan for 2024/25. It sets out how the Corporation will begin work to focus on three essential roles, announced by the Director-General earlier this week, to deliver more for audiences:

• Pursuing truth with no agenda
  
• Backing the best British storytelling
• Bringing people together

In the year ahead the BBC says it will continue its work to reflect, represent and serve all audiences through the best British storytelling, as part of its Across the UK plans. Network radio programming and teams will continue moving out of London and we will create a new network audio production hub across sites in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast.

The BBC will continue improving personalisation across BBC services making it easier for audiences to connect to content and ensure they can access it whenever and however they want it. This includes shifting News resources to focus more on online breaking news, high-impact investigations, and forensic verification.

The BBC aims to establish new partnerships to reach new talent and access funding to make the best possible content for audiences.

Highlights which support focus on the three essential roles in 2024/25 include:

• Unparalleled coverage of elections in the UK and around the world, where pursuing truth and countering disinformation will be critical. This includes the local elections in England in May, the US Presidential Election in November and the anticipated UK General Election later this year.
• A wide range of dramas and comedies from across the UK, including the return of Blue Lights in Northern Ireland, the Scottish drama Granite Harbour and new comedies Dinosaur and Mammoth, the Welsh drama Lost Boys and Fairies and the return of Doctor Who. The BBC will also be returning to the Scottish Highlands for the third series of The Traitors.
• A big summer of sport with the Men’s Euro 2024 Football Championship, Wimbledon, The Hundred and the Olympic Games in Paris.
• Live events only found on the BBC including Eurovision, Radio 1’s Big Weekend from Luton, Glastonbury and the 2024 Proms.
• The 100th Anniversary of Education at the BBC and mark the 25th Anniversary of BBC Bitesize, with a three-year £6 million investment.

The plan also sets out how the BBC will further respond to an evolving media market and pressure on funding, caused by high inflation and constraints on the licence fee. This includes BBC Studios doubling 2021/22 commercial revenues by 2027/28 and fulfilling its mandate to deliver long-term value to the BBC.

Samir Shah, BBC Chairman said: “This a plan the Board is putting its full weight behind and it is one that gives me great confidence in the year ahead. It is bold in its mission, ambitious in its goals and clear-eyed in the face of increasing financial and competitive challenges.”

Tim Davie, BBC Director-General, added: “This is going to be a significant year for the BBC. Our content offer is packed with major sporting and music events, exciting new dramas and unrivalled coverage of elections across the world. It will also be a year of embracing reform and innovation as we deliver value for all, focused on pursuing truth with no agenda, backing the best of British storytelling, and bringing people together.”

The Annual Plan for 2024/25 is available here.

Latest BBC facts and figures

• The BBC is used by nearly nine in 10 adults on average per week and by virtually the whole country every month (95 per cent).
• The BBC is the only UK brand to appear in the top 10 for online brands in the UK, with an average monthly reach of 76 per cent.
• Audiences continue to spend more time watching BBC TV/iPlayer on average per week per person than they spend on Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video combined.
• In 2023 the BBC had seven out of ten of the most watched shows in the UK across all broadcasters and streamers.
• The BBC brings UK arts, music and culture to an audience of around 22 million UK adults on average per week.
• In audio, 31.7 million adults listen to BBC Radio on average per week – still more than any other broadcast radio company or on-demand player.
• Radio 2 is the UK’s number one station overall, Radio 4 the number one speech station by some margin and 6 Music the biggest digital-only service.
• BBC Sounds hit a record 5 million accounts listening weekly in early 2024 with a mix of live and on-demand content.
• BBC iPlayer also had a record-breaking start to 2024 with January its best-ever month as 16 million accounts used the service on average per week.
• The number of accounts using BBC Online overall on average per week grew 11 per cent year on year.
• The BBC is the UK’s most used news service – used byover three-quarters of adults on average per week.
• Globally, the BBC has remained the world’s most popular online news brand, drawing in 1 billion visits in December 2024 .