The BBC has often been one of the world’s more forward-looking media companies, and the CEO of BBC Worldwide seems intent on extending that reputation. John Smith is setting new, higher goals relating to Internet revenues.
In terms of total revenues, the Internet’s share “has gone from one percent to nearly four percent in just 18 months,” Smith noted at a recent conference. “So already we are starting to see that probably we have under-egged the extent to which we will see more of our revenues coming from the Internet.”
The CEO didn’t name a new target, but according to Gavin Haycock, did specify that ten percent – the previous target – was too low.
Look for the upcoming BBC/ITV/Channel 4 Web service to play an important part in increasing Internet revenues, then. The BBC homepage itself, which recently started showing ads to visitors not based in the UK, will also have a role. “We intend to use the profits that come from that to significantly invest in the site and have an enormous amount more functionality and content on there and promote it,” said Smith.
Aside from an uproar over the iPlayer, most of the BBC’s tech plans have gone off without a hitch. With any luck, that streak will continue – we wouldn’t want to see Top Gear, the news division, or anything having to do with Mr. Bean get hurt.
