United Kingdom

[GB] BBC has Biggest 'Share of Voice' in British Media

IRIS 1995-4:1/14

Ad van Loon

European Audiovisual Observatory

According to a research report by the British Media Industry Group, the BBC has by far the biggest "share of voice" in the British media. With a 19.7 per cent "share of voice", the BBC has nearly twice the weight of its nearest rival - News International with 10.6 per cent. The organisation with the third largest "share of voice" is the Daily Mail and General Trust (publisher of the Daily Mail and a large number of regional newspapers), followed by The Mirror Group.

The report comes from the British Media Industry Group, which consists of various national newspaper groups (Associated Newspapers, Pearson, Guardian Media Group and The Telegraph) campaigning for more flexible media ownership rules. The concept of "share of voice" is designed to reflect the impact of various media organisations on the population and is measured by share of newspaper circulation (regional and national), television viewing and radio listening.

Under such a measurement, the large margin attributed to the BBC is even more notable, considering the fact that it owns no newspapers. The low score of the ITV companies (Carlton Communications 3.1 per cent, Granada 2.5 per cent) is explained by the federal and fragmented nature of the ITV system. The report by the British Media Industry Group, published on 21 March of this year, has been submitted to the National Heritage Department which is expected to publish a Green Paper on cross-media ownership later this year. The newspaper groups claim that the rules preventing them from owning more than 20 per cent of commercial broadcasting organisations, are too rigid in times when different media converge.