The BBC World Service has launched its first ad campaign in seven years, in a seemingly counterintuitive move to promote the international service to the British public.
The BBC said the decision to promote the World Service at home – it is synonymous with being a popular and trusted news source in foreign countries – was to address the misconception that it is solely for overseas audiences.
The BBC has championed the World Service, which has over 133 million listeners globally, as a beacon for democratic, unbiased news and current affairs in many countries to counter big state-sponsored media rivals.
“With a wealth of content ranging from news, current affairs and global stories to science, music and arts, we want to make sure licence fee-payers in the UK know they can listen to our unique offering and get a deeper understanding of the world,” said Mary Hockaday, controller of BBC World Service English.
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The decision to launch a promotional drive to alert licence fee-payers to what they are paying for follows the BBC taking on the £245m annual cost of the World Service, which had been funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in 2014. The BBC says the World Service has a loyal following of about 2.2 million listeners in the UK.
The ad campaign, which has been developed by ad agency RKCR/Y&R, will run across BBC TV channels, radio stations and online for a month.
“The World Service is what the BBC is all about,” said Mark Roalfe, founder and chairman of WPP-owned RKCR/Y&R. “Bringing an amazing range of programming from around the world, in a way that no one else could do. This campaign really looks to celebrate these core values, using real World Service content to do so.”
In September, BBC director general Tony Hall announced proposals for a significant expansion of the World Service potentially including a YouTube TV service for Russian speakers and a daily radio news programme for North Korea.
In November, the government agreed to give the BBC £289m over the next five years to invest in expanding the World Service as part of its strategy to strengthen the UK’s “soft power”.
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