BBC Trust

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Yn Gymraeg

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Online

This section contains quantitative and qualitative research we have commissioned to explore audience attitudes to various aspects of online services and output including bbc.co.uk, Canvas (YouView) and the Local Video proposal.

Service reviews

A service licence is issued by the Trust for every UK public service. It defines the scope, aims, objectives, headline budget and other important features of each service and states how performance is assessed by the Trust. The Trust is responsible for reviewing each of the BBC's services at least once every five years to ensure that they are high-quality and provide good value for everyone in the UK.

bbc.co.uk

In order to supplement the research provided by the BBC as part of the service review of the BBC website, we commissioned qualitative research to explore specific questions on how well bbc.co.uk is performing against key elements of the service licence including delivery of the public purposes.

Quality and distinctiveness

Strategy review stage one research - content

Accessibility and distribution

Strategy review stage two research - accessibility and distribution

The purpose of this research was to explore licence fee payers' attitudes towards the strategy review proposals which impacted specifically on the accessibility and distribution of BBC services.

Public value tests/non service approvals

Public value tests and non service approval are processes that provide detailed and specific evidence to help us decide whether or not we will allow the BBC to launch a new service or significantly change an existing one. A key part of this evidence is licence fee payer reaction to the proposals using audience research.

Project Canvas (YouView)

Project Canvas was a proposal brought to the Trust by the BBC for new joint venture partnership to define and promote a standards-based open environment for internet-connected digital television devices. For licence fee payers, this would enable subscription-free access to on-demand television services and internet-based content, through a new broadband connected digital box. In order to inform our decision and help us understand the potential public value and market impact of these proposals, we commissioned research to explore licence fee payers attitudes. In addition, we commissioned a survey to explore specific questions on the set-top box and the electronic programming guide.

Local video

The BBC Trust commissioned this piece of research to assess the appeal, likelihood of use and perceived value of the BBC's Local Video proposition across the regions in the UK. The research aimed to explore the relevance of 'local' in people's lives, how engaged they were with local news, and whether the proposed BBC Local Video service could engage a significant number of people across the segments.

On-demand proposals (including iPlayer)

From 2007, it became part of the BBC Trust's responsibility to assess the public value and market impact of new BBC service proposals. The first public value test the Trust considered was on proposals to enable on-demand viewing of, and listening to, BBC programmes. We commissioned qualitative research among a broad range of licence fee payers in order to gauge their reactions to the proposals and assess the potential public value.

World Service

Under the terms of the BBC's Charter and Agreement the Trust has a duty of oversight of the World Service which includes an annual performance review. We look at one or more services each year and commission research to explore how the service is perceived by the relevant audiences.

BBC Hausa audience research
BBC Urdu audience research
BBC Afghanistan audience research

Media literacy

Media literacy research

The annual Purpose Remit research measures how well audiences believe "the BBC has helped me make the most of new technologies such as interactive TV and the internet". As this is only one element of media literacy, the Trust recognised the need to measure how well the BBC helps its audiences engage critically with media – to find what they are looking for from trustworthy sources, to understand and form an opinion about the information, and where necessary, to respond to and interact with the information. The BBC Trust commissioned some audience research to understand how far audiences feel they have been helped by the BBC to evaluate and engage with the many sources of content available through digital media. The research set out to explore both perceptions of the BBC's performance in addressing media literacy needs across its output, and the importance placed by licence payers on the BBC fulfilling this role.

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