The BBC invested £128.5 million ($165.7 million) into TV and radio content in the first two years of its Creative Diversity Commitment, a year ahead of target. In doing so, it exceeded the original commitment of £112 million into on-screen and on-air diversity and inclusion.
The commitment, which was made in 2020 – £100 million for TV and £12 million for radio – in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, was met last year with scepticism from some U.K. industry leaders who called it “smoke and mirrors.”
That sentiment appears to have been disproved with the BBC saying that it has “broadcast a huge array of TV programs across the year which authentically reflects our audiences, nurturing diverse voices and working with diverse casts and crews,” citing “My Name Is Leon,” “Avoidance,” “Ranger Hamza’s Eco Quest,” “Una Marson: Caribbean Voices,” “The Wedding” and the “Women’s Euros” as examples.
In the second year of the commitment, the BBC invested £61 million in supporting a total of 118 TV programs. This follows a £59 million investment in the first year across 92 programd. In addition, £8.5 million has been invested in supporting 290 diverse Radio commissions over the past two years.
In 2023/24, programs will qualifying for the financial investment if they meet at least two of the following three criteria: diverse stories and portrayals; diverse production leadership; and diverse company leadership. The criteria are discussed at the point of the program’s commission and then measured at transmission.
Chinny Okolidoh, BBC Director of diversity and inclusion, said: “There is still more to do across the whole industry and we’re working with other broadcasters and streamers to make a positive difference. We’ve always said the £112 million investment was a starting point. Diversity and inclusion is an absolute priority for the BBC and we’re fully committed to reflecting our audiences and improving representation, inclusion and accessibility even further across our content.”
In its commissioning supply report the BBC also revealed that its spend on original TV content had increased to £1.6 billion ($2.06 billion), which created 28,000 hours of programming. The corporation engaged 351 independent TV production companies and 166 radio production companies and 58% of network TV spend was outside of London. More than 40 talent schemes were launched, 65 new TV producers were commissioned, and 258 TV companies were in funded ideas development.