BBC Must Improve Mobile Offering For Younger Audiences

The BBC Trust has said that the BBC must improve its mobile offering in news and current affairs it if is to do enough to reach a younger audience.

A review conducted by the Trust covered the performance of the broadcaster in network news and current affairs via TV, radio and online, surveying audiences across the country.

The Trust claimed that the Corporation is “trusted and highly regarded by audiences,” and outperforms other news providers.

However, it added it was “surprised” to discover mobile services were underdeveloped for younger users.

The report identified that some BBC users feel distanced from the coverage and that the organisation must develop its online and mobile news provision to remain relevant in a rapidly changing market.

“The challenges faced by BBC News in retaining its audiences and its reputation are by no means unique to the BBC, but the Corporation’s obligation to serve everyone means it must do better than other broadcasters,” claimed BBC Trustee Richard Ayre.

“Though news and current affairs are performing extremely well, the issues we’ve asked the BBC to address will help them to keep pace with changing audiences and unprecedented technological shifts,” he added.

“Very Underdeveloped Online and Mobile Offerings”

The study calls upon the BBC to developed its online and mobile provision for young people “much further,” both editorially and through presentation.

The research found that use of BBC News Online has grown considerably since 2009 – users have doubled from 11m to 22.2m in 2013, while mobile and tablet device usage is up 75%.

© 24N.biz