YouTube has more viewers than all BBC channels combined, industry figures reveal, yet Britain’s TV tax — even payable by those who don’t watch the BBC — seems unlikely to be abolished.
51.9 million people watched Google-owned video platform YouTube in December, fractionally more than the 50.8 million who watched all BBC output, the Broadcasters Audience Research Board (Barb) has found. Being overtaken by free-choice internet watching in December is particularly damning for the BBC, given it is traditionally the peak television-watching month and when the big broadcasters release some of their most premium content.
The Daily Telegraph notes YouTube had already overtaken Britain’s second broadcaster, ITV, the previous year, and that the BBC itself challenged these latest figures, offering its own spin on events. Complaining that Barb — for decades the standard for measuring television viewing in the UK and the national equivalent of Nielsen Ratings — counts short-form video watching as short as three minutes in its data, the state-backed broadcaster said that by only counting shows longer than 15 minutes, “the BBC continues to lead the way”.
Satisfied with its own performance or not, the increasing move away from the BBC’s content and the fall in the number of households feeling obliged to pay the legally enforced Licence Fee levied by the government that funds it come as the renegotiation of its charter looms. Governing what the BBC does and how it is funded, the present charter expires at the end of 2027, and will see greater pressure than ever to rethink the Corporation’s income.
Already due to be price-hiked again to £181 this year, the move away from the BBC’s traditional television content could give the UK’s present left-wing government the pretext it needs to transform the licence fee, known as the TV tax, yet again. First created as a radio licence in the 1920s, it was remodelled post-war into a Television Licence in 1946 as television began to take over.
The process to turn it into an internet licence is already underway, with Britons liable to prosecution if they stream certain content online — like some live television, even if it isn’t BBC television — without a licence. A more overt internet licence has long been discussed to improve falling uptake and revenue.
Non-payment of the TV Licence is one of the largest single sources of court cases in the UK, with over a thousand people a week rushed through conveyor-belt ‘SJP’ courts and fined. In some cases, dedicated refuseniks are even jailed over it.
While Britain’s previous Conservative government said it wanted to abolish the Licence, the new Labour government, which replaced it last year, has made clear it wishes to cling to the idea.