BBC Gets Go-Ahead to Commercialize BBC Website Outside U.K.

LONDON, October 18: The
BBC has received approval from the BBC Trust to launch bbc.com, its online
destination for users outside of the U.K. that will feature advertising;
British users’ experience of bbc.co.uk will not be affected.

Ad revenues from the
service will be reinvested into its news capabilities and into the BBC
Worldwide and BBC Global News divisions. BBC Worldwide, in conjunction with BBC
Global News, will be responsible for the development of bbc.com. The current
site has more than 40 million unique users per month from outside the U.K. Following
the launch of bbc.com, advertising will be introduced on selected high-traffic
pages, visible only to users accessing the site from outside the U.K., and over
time will be rolled across more of the site. Editorial control of the news
pages will continue to be the responsibility of BBC News.

BBC Worldwide has entered
into a joint venture with BBC World covering the news, sport and weather parts
of the site, which means that BBC World will receive a portion of the revenues
in return for providing editorial, audience and advertising expertise and
on-air cross-promotion.

Richard Sambrook, the
director of BBC Global News, commented, “BBC News has built an unrivalled
reputation for impartial, in-depth news reporting. Today it is the most trusted
source of news and information for millions of people around the world. Introducing advertising on
international traffic to news pages is a natural development in the growth of
the BBC’s commercial news services. It will enable us to deliver a stronger
service for the benefit of our audiences throughout the world.”

John Smith, the CEO of BBC
Worldwide, added: “We welcome the decision from the BBC Trust today to approve
bbc.com. It is a key step in delivering our strategy of growing our online
revenues to 10 percent of revenues and building a portfolio of direct to
consumer business. We plan to invest in bbc.com to make it a showcase of the
best of the BBC’s content ranging from Top Gear to Planet Earth to the riches of the program archive in a way that
appeals international audiences.”

—By Mansha Daswani