BBC 'Quality' measures at highest levels in recent years

The BBC has published the results of a range of measures for the first time today that show public perceptions of quality on the BBC are at their highest for many years.

The results, taken from independent research commissioned by the BBC, will be published quarterly, and include the audience Appreciation Index (AI) – a score out of 100 given to BBC services by an independently run panel of 20,000 people. The panel has been running for five years but the results have not been published until now. 

The results indicate that for radio, television and online, scores are at an all-time high, with all television channels scoring more than 80 and all major radio networks scoring 77 or above. 

As well as the AI measurement, the BBC has also asked audiences whether they view programmes and services across the BBC as distinctive. The results here again show the BBC is performing well. 

James Holden, Head of Audiences at the BBC, says: "Audiences are at the heart of everything we do at the BBC, so it is very encouraging to see our services performing so strongly in the opinion of our audience. 97% of people in the UK use a BBC service every week and it is really important that we understand whether they think what they get from us is both high quality and distinctive. We are constantly striving to meet our audiences' naturally high expectations but these results show a very positive story across the board." 

Adrian Ruth, Controller Performance for BBC, says: "It is encouraging to see that BBC channels such as BBC One, with the range of programmes available to a wide audience, continues to record high AI and strong distinctiveness scores despite the level of choice on offer to licence fee payers."

Results for January – March 2011 include: 

Appreciation index – AI

All BBC TV    82	All BBC Radio           80
BBC One       81	Radio 1                      78
BBC Two       83	Radio 2                      81
BBC Three     84	Radio 3                      83
BBC Four       85	Radio 4                      80
BBC HD         85	Radio 5 Live              77

Distinctiveness

All BBC TV    69%	All BBC Radio           73%
BBC One       65%	Radio 1                      73%
BBC Two       74%	Radio 2                      75%
BBC Three     74%	Radio 3                      75%
BBC Four       81%	Radio 4                      76%
BBC HD         81%	Radio 5 Live              63%

Notes to Editors

Further detail and a blog from James Holden Head of Audiences

(Source : BBC Press release)