BBC Studios revenues hit record £2.1bn

BBC Studios has posted record revenues of £2.13bn for 2024/2025, driven by streamer BritBox International and an expanding consumer products offering fuelled by children’s brand Bluey.

The UK public broadcaster’s sales arm saw profits rise to £225m from £199m in 2023/24, with its media and streaming revenues unit delivering 43% revenue growth from £549m to £786m this year.

The broader BBC Commercial group, whose results are dominated by BBC Studios but exclude BBC Studioworks, recorded revenues of £2.15bn with profits of £228m, helping the BBC to halve its deficit and grow group revenues by 9% to £5.9bn.

‘Structural change’

The results underlined a shifting landscape for BBCS, with the growth of its media and streaming division - including BBC branded channels, streamers and BBC.com - reporting an EBITDA rise from £85m to £101m but a decline in returns from its linear channel services.

The company’s Content Studio, which includes BBCS’s extensive production and distribution operations, also suffered from the global pull-back in streamer spending, although revenues rose from £1.354bn to £1.433bn, with EBITDA inching up £2m year-on-year to £114m.

Separate lines for BBCS’s distribution and production activity are not broken out, but the company blamed “structural changes” to the global content market for the slower rate of growth, highlighting streamers refocusing on profitability rather than subscriber numbers.

“In a highly competitive marketplace, this has meant a slower pipeline of content within production and beyond to content sales during the year,” it said, adding that there were, however, “opportunities for growth in direct-to- consumer services as the sector consolidates.”

These were highlighted by BritBox International, where revenues rose 20% year-on-year in what BBCS described as a “challenging market”, with Ludwig and Blue Lights cited as subscriber drivers in the key North America region.

The rise comes 18 months since BBCS took full ownership of BritBox International in March 2024, after acquiring the 50% stake previously held by ITV for £255m.

BBCS’s domestic multi-channel network, UKTV, also recorded audience growth following a rebrand and marketing push last year, with its direct-to-consumer service U expanding views by a third in 2024.

UKTV saw total viewer hours to its VOD content across its free and pay platforms grow by 56 million hours year-on-year, BBCS said, with dramas such as The Marlow Murder Club driving audiences.

Consumer focus amid commissioning slow-down

BBCS also saw returns from efforts to grow its BBC.com audience and the BBC app, with the former recording 15% growth in global visitors over the year. Registrations have grown by 78% year-on-year, with the numbers coming weeks after BBCS confirmed it would be introducing a pay model for US-based visitors costing $49.99 a year or $8.99 a month.

Hit Australian animation Bluey helped to drive BBCS’s brands and licensing business, with the launch of a Bluey’s World immersive experience in Brisbane, Australia. A feature film is also in the works with Disney+, which is set to arrive in cinemas in 2027.

The results mean that BBC Commercial remains on track to meet its five-year returns commitment of £1.5bn by 2026/27 (a 30% increase on the previous five-year period), having already delivered £1.028m during the first three years.

BBCS added that it would continue to focus on “long-term, sustainable growth” and highlighted upcoming shows such as Timothy Spall drama Death Valley and Firebird Pictures’ Outrageous as key launches.

There was also considerable emphasis put on the organisation’s diversified business model.

In its outlook, BBCS said its global operations across sectors provided the company “with a good level of resilience, amidst ongoing structural change in audience habits with sound demand for content with the BBC’s quality and values.”

However, it added that “global geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty” would continue this year and result in a “slower commissioning market and a soft linear TV advertising market.”

Netflix’s Baby Reindeer, from BBCS-owned Clerkenwell Films, and feature film Conclave, made by its wholly owned House Productions, were singled out among award winners for BBCS this year, while NBC’s factual title The Americas was touted as the most-watched nature documentary on US linear television for more than 15.

Tom Fussell, BBC Commercial’s chief exec, said: “BBC Commercial has delivered a strong set of results, which show that our strategy is working and the investments made in previous years, together with a diversified portfolio, are delivering a trajectory of sustainable growth, despite ongoing global macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty.

“Together with the continuing recognition for the craft and creativity of our content studio and the demand for our content around the world, BBC Commercial is well placed to support a robust creative and entertainment industry and cement its role as a global ambassador for the best of UK content.”

Pay gap update

BBCS also provided an update to its annual Pay Gap Report, which showed improvements in eight of the 10 pay gaps (both median and mean) on its 2024 performance.

Over 96% of the business’ female employees are in a career band with a median pay gap of less than 5%, while 21% are in a career band with a median pay gap in favour of women.

The company’s median gender pay gap for 2024/25 was 10.7% (2023/24: 11.5%) and a mean gender pay gap of 11.3% (2023/24: 13.4%).

Fussell described the pay gap numbers as “encouraging” but said it was aiming to improve representation “across all levels across - and all characteristics in – the business.”

He added: “We are taking proactive steps to address our representation through initiatives such as BBC Extend and are also working to improve our disclosure rates in order to achieve a more inclusive and representative workforce.”