Reach out

The BBC in Scotland has come out with some rare audience figures, in response to claims that the news service on BBC Scotland is still struggling. Newspapers reported that only 200 people watched The Seven, the 15-minute news programme on the BBC Scotland channel, on Sunday, January 7.  The Nine, the channel’s flagship hour-long show, reached 1700 viewers last Wednesday 10th January. It's claimed its biggest audience so far in January came on Monday 8th January - 8200. 

The response this morning from the BBC. "Against a background of declining audiences for all linear channels in recent years, the BBC in Scotland continues to provide market-leading services.

“The BBC Scotland channel continues to reach more viewers than any other digital channel in Scotland — its weekly reach in 2023 was 13.5% or 701,000."

“The Nine had a weekly reach of 106,000 between January and November 2023 and its journalism extends beyond the nightly show into other parts of our news output.”

In July 2021 Gary Smith, BBC Head of News and Current Affairs in Scotland, told MPs “We have a weekly reach for The Nine of 160,000 people, which we’re very pleased with. That means, across the week, 160,000 people dip in to part of a programme at least once.” By my calculations, since then he's presided over a 33% fall in weekly reach.