Regulator proposes PSB prominence on the platform as it becomes ‘increasingly important’

the masked singer

ITV puts full episodes of The Masked Singer on YouTube

Ofcom has urged the public service broadcasters to create more content for YouTube and other third-party platforms and work together to compete with global players.

The regulator has today urged for better prominence on YouTube as part of a series of recommendations in its public service media review – Transmission Critical: The Future of Public Service Media. The detailed study assesses how PSBs have delivered for audiences during the period 2019-2023 and explores the challenges they face in the future.

According to the report, despite YouTube and other third-party video services “increasingly important” position in delivering content to UK audiences, PSBs currently only provide a “small proportion” of what UK audiences watch on these platforms and have no say in what content gets promoted on them.

“The PSBs will therefore need to work much harder to create content that audiences want to watch on these platforms,” said the report.

Pointing out that YouTube content is particularly popular with young viewers and kids – who spend more time there than on the PSB services combined - Ofcom warned: “If children do not turn to PSB content as they get older, the future of PSM is at risk”.

It added: “If no action is taken, the very existence of the PSBs – who are the main providers of PSM – will be threatened. Time is running out to save this pillar of UK culture and way of life.”

Channel 4 and ITV have secured deals with YouTube to broadcast full episodes of long-form programming on the Google-owned platform, while the BBC and 5 have resisted this urge so far, using YouTube for short-form content, clips and promotional material.

Ofcom warned that, while it does not have a “comprehensive understanding” of what young audiences are choosing to watch on YouTube, “the likelihood is that much of their viewing is not PSB content”.

It also noted that C4 and ITV’s arrangements - which allows them to sell advertising against their content on YouTube - currently have limited commerical impact, highlighting the “challenge in monetising content” on these platforms, while warning “that placing their content on a third-party platform the PSB brand may be lost underneath that of the host”.

The regulator’s first recommendation was for prominence and discoverability for public service media content on the third-party platforms, urging the PSBs to keep adapting to audience preferences by “constantly challenging themselves to test and iterate new ways of distributing and creating content”.

“It is critical that the PSBs and YouTube work together to ensure that PSB content is prominent on its service, and on fair commercial terms,” said the report, urging the PSBs need to work with VSPs (video sharing platforms) and social media platforms to ensure their content is easily discoverable.

“This is important for PSM to continue to connect with all audiences, particularly for news, which supports democracy, and for UK children’s programming which helps young audiences learn and grow.”

Call for legislation on digital prominence

It also said the government should consider whether this needs to be underpinned by legislation, which would require “significant work”, as it did with the Media Act for PSB prominence on connected TVs and other devices.

“More widely, the government may wish to explore prominence for news on social media and other platforms, even though implementation would be complex and would need to reflect the different ways that platforms promote content to users,” it added.

The regulator said it will look at what further reform is needed to help PSBs reach online audiences.

Partnerships among PSBs

The report also called for “more ambitious” strategic partnerships amongst the PSBs to compete with global platforms.

“Scale is critical for the PSBs’ and domestic broadcasters’ ability to connect with all audiences in a fast-moving sector,” it said.

It said it would assess any mergers or partnerships in the context of market conditions and “recognising there continues to be fundamental change in the sector”, though it noted that partnerships “pose risks to competition and plurality”.

“The majority of the current legislative and regulatory framework was designed for a linear world. It needs a fundamental review to determine what is required to support audiences as they shift their viewing and listening online and to encourage growth and innovation,” said the report.

Ofcom published the first phase of the review in December, when it highlighted the increasing challenging for news content to cut through as online sources and social media grows. The regulator said it is “more important than ever” for audiences to be able to easily find “high-quality and accurate” PSB news.

It is the first such review since the publication of the five-year Small Screen: Big Debate review in 2020.

Topics