Media: BBC rivals hit out at £110m digital spend

The BBC's commercial rivals have criticised the mismanagement of its digital operations after a review by the BBC Trust revealed that the broadcaster overspent on its budget by almost £36m last year.

According to the review, the BBC's UK web operations cost £110m - about 48% more than the £74m planned.

Edward Roussel, digital editor of Telegraph Media Group, said the surge of money that the BBC directed at its website risked threatening newspapers' prospects of digital success by reducing their potential UK audience.

'The newspaper industry needs to move at lightning speed into the digital arena. Britain's newspaper industry will increasingly depend on digital revenues and audiences,' he said.

He added that the review, in which the BBC Trust said it would not sign off a planned £39m increase in investment this year, unless executives showed by November that they had a tighter rein on bbc.co.uk's finances, highlighted the need for tougher controls at the corporation.

'The Trust's recommendation is to accept the overspend, integrate it into the budget and add £4.4m,' said Roussel. 'So the baseline budget for next year is a 54% increase at a time when the BBC's private sector rivals are feeling the full whiplash of a global credit crunch.'

Market Reports

Get unprecedented new-business intelligence with access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s new Advertising Intelligence Market Reports.

Find out more

Enjoying ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s content?

 Get unlimited access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s premium content for your whole company with a corporate licence.

Upgrade access

Looking for a new job?

Get the latest creative jobs in advertising, media, marketing and digital delivered directly to your inbox each day.

Create an alert now

Partner content