Ofcom has found that BBC Sounds is not having any significant adverse impact on fair and effective competition.
This is the regulator’s provisional view on the market position and impact of BBC Sounds following feedback and evidence from competitors and other interested parties.
It follows concerns over why UK commercial speech radio and podcast companies were not seeing profits and investment on the same level as international markets such as the US.
Ofcom says: “Having carefully considered this feedback and our own evidence, we are today setting out our provisional view. This is that there are no reasonable grounds to believe BBC Sounds is currently having a significant adverse impact on fair and effective competition.
“The evidence suggests that commercial radio has been more successful at attracting online listeners than BBC Sounds. It also suggests that listeners to BBC Sounds use multiple platforms (more so than listeners to other online platforms), that the UK podcast sector has a wide range of non-BBC content, and that podcast producers are able to generate revenue.”
The regulator found that advertising revenue from UK podcasts was up by 66% year-on-year in 2020.
Ofcom plans to address questions about the future regulation of BBC Sounds in its first periodic review of the BBC, and its work on how the BBC’s Operating Licence should evolve – which will include how the BBC’s online services, including BBC Sounds, should be captured.
Views and evidence from interested parties on the provisional findings can be submitted to Ofcom by 29 June 2021 and it is aiming to publish a statement in the autumn.
