The number of active TV licences in the UK fell to 23.9m last year, down from 24.4m the year before. According to the latest BBC Annual Report, that resulted in an £80m fall in revenue for the same period.
The £169.50 annual fee is mandatory for anyone who watches live content from any broadcaster, even when accessed via a streaming app, even though the money raised goes almost entirely towards funding the BBC.
The fee rose by 6.6% in April of this year after two years of being frozen by government ministers. After the £10.50 hike was confirmed, BBC bosses complained they would still need to make further cuts.
YouGov’s regular biannual polling suggests that 45% of the public believe the licence fee is “very unfair” with a further 19% labelling it as “unfair”.
The company’s regular tracker poll also suggests 21% believe the fee should be retained, while 36% say the BBC should be funded through the introduction of advertising.
Advertising already plays a role in funding the broadcaster’s activities, including its wholly owned UKTV subsidiary which operates both advert and subscription funded channels here in the UK.
The BBC also hopes to introduce advertising when UK audiences listen to its podcasts through non-BBC apps and services, a proposal strongly opposed by commercial radio stations and podcasters.
Beyond its UK operations, the BBC has a growing number of commercial broadcast and streaming channels around the world which are wholly or partially funded by advertising and, earlier this year, took full ownership of the BritBox subscription streaming service.
Collectively its commercial operations, which also include the sale of content and formats to other broadcasters and streamers around the world, raised £1.9bn in 2023/24. This is in addition to the roughly £3.6bn raised by the licence fee in the same period.
Money raised through commercial operations helps fund the BBC’s core UK activities.