Rich Fiscus
27 Nov 2007 18:22
BBC officials are coming to the realization that they've greatly underestimated the income potential from Web based services. BBC Worldwide chief executive John Smith said on Tuesday that until recently the company has been operating under the assumption that they might be able to derive at least 10% of total income from the Web. As it turns out that figure apears to be more than a little pessimistic.
"We think we will be able to beat it. It has gone from one percent to nearly four percent in just 18 months. So already we are starting to see that probably we have under-egged the extent to which we will see more of our revenues coming from the Internet," Smith told a media leaders conference in London.
Smith also indicated that as the broadcaster's commercial arm,BBC Worldwide will be putting an emphasis on purchasing companies in order to shore up weak spots in current Web offerings. "You have got to fill gaps through M&A activity and there are all sorts of gaps for us," he said, noting Channel distribution, magazine portfolios and intellectual property.
Earlier this year, under Smith's leadership, BBC Worldwide purchased travel publisher Lonely Planet for nearly $100 million. Since the purchase they've been hard at work both updating the publisher's web presence and folding it into the BBC website. They hope to leverage the company to provide content for a number of other BBC ventures, including on-demand viewing and social networking.
Source: Reuters