NAO: BBC World Service behind on digital-first and savings push

The BBC World Service has seen a fall in digital audiences because of widespread cuts and is shy of its three-year savings target, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report.

The NAO has dubbed the service “not successful” in migrating audiences over to its websites and social media content, with overall digital audiences falling by 11% from 148m in 2022 to 131m in 2025 – although it has seen growth of 6% (7m) in the past year.

The analysis, titled The BBC World Service’s Savings Programmes, is critical of the way in which the international news division has implemented its digital-first and savings push since 2022. Its 43 language services have experienced major editorial and structure changes, including the closure of various broadcast services and widespread job cuts.

The report highlighted that the seven language services that became digital-only after their broadcast services closed in 2022 have seen the greatest fall in digital audiences (-39%). Overall global audience numbers have fallen by 52m (14%), from 365m in 2022 to 313m in 2025.

The NAO also revealed that the World Service is around £6m shy of its £54.2m savings target, achieving savings of £46.8m overall. It is behind schedule with the third and final phase, saving just £5m against a target £11.1m as of September this year, despite its initial target to complete the programme by October.

The NAO said the World Service put the delay mainly down to the programme beginning later than initially planned because of the need to incorporate it into wider BBC transformation plans.

Around half of the savings have stemmed from reduced staff costs following broadcast closures. In the first two phases, around 390 staff were laid off, saving £18.1m. Phase three saw a further 90 staff cut, saving an extra £4.5m.

The NAO said the World Service had “weaknesses in its approach” to setting up the savings programme and its plans “lacked sufficient detail” to ensure the aims were achievable.

“They lacked options analysis, had poorly developed risk assessments and in some places contained inaccuracies,” said the report.

“The service did not clearly document its decision-making process for which TV and radio stations [should] close, so has not been able to show evidence that it ultimately applied a clear and consistent rationale.”

It also said the service did not have a detailed plan for how its digital-first aims would be achieved at an individual language service level and had unclear remits between some teams who were “left unsure on what good looked like” – as recently as last year.

“Despite the lack of detailed planning, we have seen evidence that some language services are focused on improving their digital output through upskilling staff and increasingly focusing their content production on digital and social media platforms,” it added.

The NAO also found the service to have maintained its standing as the most reliable, trustworthy and independent international news provider, despite the savings programme.

Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said: “With over 20% reduction in funding in recent years, the World Service is currently implementing a savings plan, although there have been weaknesses in the approach to setting up and implementing the programme.

“Plans for savings and digital ambitions lacked detail to ensure aims were achievable, which may have contributed to later savings targets running behind schedule and impacted the migration of viewers to digital platforms.

“The outstanding reporting and research that the BBC does in the World Service must continue to be supported, particularly at a time of increasing misinformation, declining media freedoms and competition from countries who may wish to promote undemocratic points of view.”

At the start of 2025, the BBC announced further cuts of around 130 roles as part of a £6m savings plan for the year and a new regional international model for BBC News, which involved the closure of six regional director roles in London to be replaced with six regional directors. A group of current and former World Service journalists has warned the latest changes would cause “irreparable damage to the depth of news coverage” and put the division in “terminal decline”.

The long-term future funding of the World Service will be considered as part of the government upcoming charter review.

The BBC has been approached for comment.