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GOVERNORS’ GENRE REVIEW: RELIGIOUS OUTPUT ON BBC ONE

The BBC Governance Unit prepared this report for the Board of Governors for consideration at their January 2005 meeting to assess the impact of the Religion Strategy the Board approved in September 2002.

The report is a quantitative comparison of the BBC's religious output and its performance in 2001/2, the year before implementation of the strategy, with that in 2003/4, the year following implementation. The research was narrow in scope, considering only output classified as religion which counted towards the BBC's Statements of Programme Policy commitment to the genre.

Notes on the methodology:

1.	The focus on output classified as religion under-r epresents the overall coverage of matters of religion and faith on BBC Television as this output may be classified as news, current affairs, drama or factual rather than religion, for example.
2.	Comparison of hours of output in particular years does not take account of other factors. Hours of religion in 2001/2 were inflated by two Easters falling within the year and additional religious programming following the events of September 11th. If these are excl uded, there were still fewer hours of core religious programming on BBC One in 2003/4 than 2001/2, however.
3.	Since this report was first presented to the Board in January 2005, ITV has, with Ofcom's approval, reduced its commitment to religion from 104 hours in 2004 to 52 hours in 2005. BBC One has maintained its commitment to 80 hours of hours in 2005/6 so now commits to more hours of religion than ITV.

Governance Unit April 2005

GOVERNORS’ GENRE REVIEW: RELIGIOUS OUTPUT ON BBC ONE

January 2005

Contents

page

1.	Introduction
2.	Key findings
3.	Key issues raised

Appendix 1: List of religiou s output Ap pendix 2: Sou rces Ap pendix 3: Terms of reference

1. Introduction

Background

Governors approved a new religion strategy covering all media in September 2002. On the BBC’s two main television channels this promised:

“BBC One willimprove its provision of popular programmes about religion including ….landmark documentaries…transmitted at the heart of the schedule about major Biblical figures and historical characters central to the main religions…”
“BBC Two willstrengthen its provision as the home of searching and surprising programmes about the big questions religion seeks to answer and the values we live by…”

Two years on, the Governors’ religious advisory body, the Central Religious Advisory Committee (CRAC), highlighted concern about the marginalised scheduling of much religious output on the main television channels, including the absence of a regular slot for Songs of Praise. As a result, in the Annual Report Governors promised “Work will be undertaken over the next year to assess the effectiveness of the religion strategy we approved in 2002 which promised high-impact religious programming on BBC One alongside Songs of Praise and The Heaven and Earth Show”.

Objective

The review was designed to fulfil this commitment b y undertaking a quantitative assessment of the Religion Strategy’s impact. It forms part of a package of work which included the impartiality report on religion presented to the Board last July. The key question it asks is: Has the Religion Strategy, approved by Governors in 2002, delivered high-quality and wide impact religious output on television, particularly BBC One?

Approach

The review was commissioned as a purely quantitative study with a narrow focus on only that output which counts towards the services’ Statement of Programme Policy commitment to religion, i.e. output classified as ‘religion’ by BBC Television/Finance (see list of programmes in Appendix 1 and Terms of reference in Appendix 3). The review compared the output and its performance in the year prior to the implementation of the strategy (2001/2) with that post implementation (2003/4).

2. Key findings

Summary

Comparison of output in 2001/2, pre-implemen tation of the Strategy, against 2003/4’s output (post-implementation) indicated that the strategy has not resulted in religious output with wider impact on BBC One:

There has been a reduction in hours of religion on BBC One, with overall reach of religious output also down on the network partially as a result of this
The landmark strategy has not delivered greater impact on BBC One
Audiences to Songs of Praise are lower as a result of the earlier and irregular scheduling of BBC One’s key strand

At the same time, hours and reach of religion on BBC Two have increased.

BBC One

There were fewer hours of religion on BBC One in 2003/4 than 2001/2 – 87 hours compared to 101 hours. Fewer of these were scheduled in peak
BBC One’s commitment to 80 hours of religion in 2003/4 was significantly below ITV’s commitment to 104 hours in 2004. In terms of religion in peak, BBC One offered marginally more than ITV: 0.1 hours on average per week versus no hours in peak at all on ITV
Partially as a result of the reduced volume of religion on offer on BBC One, there has been a significant decline in the reach of religion on BBC over the year, from 62%1 in 2001/2 to 54% in 2003/4. This was not simply a result of a lower volume of output: the average reach of the output was also down
Despite this, audiences overwhelmingly judged BBC One best for both the range and quality of the religion it offered
The strategy has not resulted in any overall change to the average cost per hour of religion on BBC One.

Landmarks on BBC One

The landmark approach aimed to offer a small volume of higher impact religious programming on BBC One that benefited from peak scheduling and higher spend in order to attract a wider audience to religion
In 2003/4 there were fewer hours of non-strand (or one-off) religious output on BBC
One than 2001/2. Although landmarks accounted for a higher proportion of this output in 2003/4 than 2001/2 they still only amounted to three programme titles and 4.5 hours of output. Three titles, however, meant that there was more choice and a wider range of religious output on offer in 2003/4 than 2001/2 (human interest alongside historical output)

1 Proportion of all individuals 4+ viewing any consecutive 15 minutes of religion over the year (BARB)

While the average cost per hour of non-strand output has remained relatively stable overall, a small amount of output became more expensive in 2003/4 – this is the landmark output
There is no evidence that this higher spend on landmarks has delivered greater impact:

The unique reach 2 delivered by the landmarks in 2003/4 was lower than that delivered by Son of God in 2001/2
The average reach and audiences to the landmark output in 2003/4 was no higher than that achieved in 2001/2. The cost per hour of both Saint Paul and Noah’s Ark was higher than that of Son of God in 2001/2, yet:

Noah’s Ark’s reach was only marginally higher than Son of God, and its average audience was lower
Saint Pau l’s reach and average audience was actually lower, less than half that achieved by Son of God

The memorability of land mark output was not reliably higher than that of other religion output in 2003/4.

Strands on BBC One

Strands accounted for a greater proportion of religious output on BBC One in 2003/4 than 2001/2. During the majority of wee ks BBC One’s two strands The Heaven & Earth Show and Songs of Praise comprised all the religion output on offer on the network
Average reach of The Heaven & Earth Show was higher in 2003/4 than 2001/2 (1.2m vs. 1.1m3)
The average reach and audience to Songs ofPraise was lower in 2003/4; reach was 3.0m in 2003/4 vs. 3.5m3 in 2001/2, and average audience was 3.9m in 2001/2 compared to 3.3m in 2001/2
CRAC has expressed concern about the earlier and variable scheduling of BBC
One’s main religion strand. Evidence suggests that the fall in reach and audience to Songs of Praise was a result of a tendency to schedule it earlier when the audience available to view is smaller. It was also a result of an increasing number of instances when it was transferred from BBC One to BBC Two (eight times in 2003/4 vs. once in 2001/2). Songs of Praise has never had a regular slot, however, even in 2001/2
While the average cost per hour of The Heaven & Earth Show was marginally higher in 2003/4 than 2001/2, the average cost of Songs of Praise was marginally lower

2 Unique reach measures the proportion of the population 4+ attracted by this programme title but did not watch any other religious output on the channel (BARB) 3 Average number of individuals 4+ per watching at least 15 mins of the programme title

BBC Two

A doubling of hours of religion on BBC Two from 18 hours in 2001/2 to 37 in 2003/4 means that overall there has been aslight increase in total hours of religion across the BBC’s two mainstream television channels
There was also more religion in peak on BBC Two in 2003/4 than 2001/2 – an increase from 14 to 22 hours. However, this was insufficient to offset the decline on BBC One
BBC Two’s SoPP commitment to 20 hours in 2004/5 was well below Channel Four and Five’s commitments in 2004 to 52 hours each in 2004. In terms of religion in peak, however, BBC Two’s average of 0.4 hours per week compared relatively well with Channel 4’s 0.5 hours and Five’s 0.1 hours in peak per week
The average cost per hour of religion was marginally lower on BBC Two in 2003/4 than 2001/2
The performance of religion was higher on BBC Two in 2003/4 than 2001/2:

Reach of religion on BBC Two increased from 23% in 2001/2 to 40% in 2003/44. This meant that across BBC One and BBC Two there was only a marginal decline in reach – from 66% in 2001/2 to 65% in 2003/4
On BBC Two religious output has managed to match, or even exceed, the average reach for its slot
Religion on BBC Two generated higher impact in 2003/4 than in 2001/2 in terms of the average consumption, which increased from 25 minutes in 2001/2 to 56 minutes in 2003/4
BBC Two religion has demonstrated its potential to score relatively well in terms of memorability; its output memorability scores compare well to much of BBC One’s output. It has not, however, been able to achieve the high score of the most successful BBC One output such as Noah’s Ark
Religion has performed strongly on BBC Two, but it does not currently have the potential to achieve the reach or attract the size of audience of the top performing output on BBC One.

BBC portfolio

There were fewer hours of religion across the BBC Television portfolio in 2003/4 than 2001/2 – 167 hours compared to 178 hours in 2001/2. BBC One and BBC Two still account for the majority of religious output broadcast by BBC Television –124 hours in 2003/4.

4 Proportion of all individuals 4+ viewing any consecutive 15 minutes of religion over the year (BARB)

3. Key issues raised

3.1 BBC One and Two’s commitments to religion are below those of other networks

BBC One commits to 80 hours of religion in its Statement of Programme Policy. BBC Two commits to 20 hours. While both channels exceeded their commitments in 2003/4 – BBC One with 87 hours, BBC Two with 37 hours – these commitments were significantly below those of other networks. ITV committed to 104 hours in 2004, and Channel Four and Five to 52 hours each.

3.2 The landmark approach has failed to deliver higher impact religion on BBC One On BBC One, the strategy aimed to deliver higher impact through a small volume of landmark factual output that would benefit from peak scheduling and higher spend.

During 2003/4 there were three landmarks: Saint Paul and Noah’s Ark were one-hour documentaries, and Hand of God was a three episode series. The review indicates that this was insufficient to have any major impact over the year, with reach and average consumption of religion lower on BBC One in 2003/4 than 2001/2.

The increased investment in these landmarks in 2003/4 did not guarantee a greater reach amongst the audience or more impact in terms of post-broadcast memorability.

3.3Songs of Praise suffers from erratic and increasingly earlier scheduling

Songs of Praise is BBC One’s flagship religion strand. The Central Religious Advisory Committee has expressed concern about its variable scheduling. The average reach of the strand has fallen since the implementation of the strategy as a result of more variablescheduling, which tended to be earlier in 2003/4, and there were more occasions when the strand was transferred to BBC Two. Evidence indicates that Songs of Praise reaches a larger audience when broadcast on BBC One, and the later it is scheduled.

3.4. The strong performance of religious output on BBC Two raises questions as to whether more such output might be carried by the channel

Reach of religion across BBC One and BBC Two is relatively unchanged due to an increase in reach on BBC Two which almost offset the fall on BBC One.

Religion on BBC One largely failed to deliver a significant audience with even landmarks performing below the average for their schedule slot in 2003/4. Religion, meanwhile, performs more strongly relative to other output on BBC Two, with two programmes, Country Parish and Seaside Parish, achieving a reach in excess of the average for the slots in which they were scheduled – in peak.

This raises the question of whether BBC Two might not be a more natural home for some religious output.than BBC One. That said, BBC Two does not have the potential to achieve either the reach or impact of the top performing religious programmes on BBC One.

Appendix 1: List of religious output (source: BBC Television/Finance)

BBC One 2003/4

A SERVICE OF REMEMBRANCE FOR IRAQ 2003 BETRAYED

CAN'T WAIT TILL CHRISTMAS CENOTAPH

I AM A MOHEL ME AND UNCLE SAM NOAH

ROSH HASHANAH SAINT PAUL SONGS OF PRAISE

SONGS OF PRAISE AND THE STORIES OF JESUS SONGS OF PRAISE ARMAGH

SONGS OF PRAISE FROM THE USA SONGS OF PRAISE GIFTS

STATION OF ISLAM

THE ARCHBISHOP OF CATERBURY'S NEW YEAR MESSAGE THE CRUCIFIED KING

THE FIRST EUCHARIST OF CHRISTMAS THE HAND OF GOD

THE HEAVEN AND EARTH SHOW THE JOYFUL EASTERTIDE THE JOYS OF CHRISTMAS THE POPE'S SILVER JUBILEE TONGUES OF FIRE

TWO MINUTE SILENCE URBI ET ORBI

VICTORIA AND ABDUL WHERE THERE'S BRASS

BBC Two 2003/4

A COUNTRY PARISH A SEASIDE PARISH BBC4 ON BBC2 BIBLE MYSTERIES CAROLS FROM KINGS

DOES HEALING WORK? (EVERYMAN)

DOES MEDITATION WORK? (EVERYMAN) DOES PRAYER WORK? (EVERYMAN) EVERYMAN

HEADHUNTING THE HOMELESS MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

SONGS OF PRAISE SPEAR OF CHRIST TALKING TO THE DEAD

THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY'S NEW YEAR MESSAGE THE BATTLE FOR BRITAIN'S SOUL

THE CENOTAPH: HIGHLIGHTS THE HEAVEN AND EARTH SHOW TWO MINUTE SILENCE

BBC One 2001/2

A SERVICE OF REMEMBRANCE A SILENCE FOR AMERICA - LIVE BATTERSEA TO BETHLEHEM BIRTHDAY OF THE PROPHET 2001 CHRISTMAS FAMILY SERVICE CHRISTMAS VOICES

DOT COM AND KOSHER EASTER SERVICE EVERYMAN

FATHER FORGIVE

FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS CAROLS FESTIVALS: MIDNIGHT MASS FOR LOVE AND GOD

GETTING CLOSE TO THORA HAPPY NEW YEAR

LETTERS TO THE

MESSAGES - ROSH HASHANAH ON A STREET IN JERUSLAEM ONE GOD - TWO WORLDS PENTECOST, PEOPLE AND PRAISE

QUEEN MOTHER SONGS OF PRAISE SPECIAL REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY: RISEN TODAY

ROSH HASHANAH

SCAR STORIES SON OF GOD SONGS OF PRAISE

SONGS OF PRAISE - CAROLS THE CURRY MILE

THE HEAVEN AND EARTH THE HEAVEN AND EARTH SHOW TO HELL AND BACK

WESTMINSTER MEMORIAL SERVICE

BBC Two 2001/2

A SILENCE FOR AMERICA

BRITISH MEMORIAL SERVICE IN NEW YORK CAROLS FROM KINGS

CENOTAPH- HIGHLIGHTS EVERYMAN

EVERYMAN HAPPY NEW YEAR

IN SEARCH OF HAPPINESS ISLAM UK

LIFE ETC

OUR FATHER THE SERIAL KILLER - EVERYMAN PRAYERS FOR AMERICA

SONGS OF PRAISE THE EXORCIST WAR GRAVES

Appendix 2: Sources

BBC Television/Finance: Programme output and cost data
BARB: Audience viewing data (average audience, reach, hours of viewing)
Ofcom: The Communications market 2004
Pan BBC Tracking Survey (PBTS): audience approval data
QUEST: Memorability of output data
Statements of Programme Policy: oBBC 2004/5 oChannel 4 2004 oFive 2004 oITV1 2004

Appendix 3: Terms of reference

Review of Religion on BBC Television, particularly BBC One

1.	Background
	·	Governors approved a new religion strategy covering all media in September 2002. This aimed to: o“bring renewed confidence and energy to reflecting the different faith experiences of the audience…through television, radio and interactive media of high quality and wide impact” oOn BBC One and Two: “Impact will come from landmark programmes in peak-time and high-profile series andseasons”
	·	The Central Religious Advisory Committee (CRAC) has highlighted concern about the marginalised scheduling of much religious output, including the absence of a regular slot, and the lack of understanding of religious faiths on the part of some programme-makers. Based on this, in the Annual Report, Governors promised:
			o	‘Work will be undertaken over the next year to assess the effectiveness of the religion strategy we approved in 2002 which promised high-impact religious programming on BBC One alongside Songs of Praise and Heaven and Earth .…We are concerned that there may not be enough landmark output in peak time to make a regular impact with viewers’
	·	The impartiality review of the BBC’s religion output (which included consultation with a specialist panel of faith leaders and focus group work with members of the main religious communities in the UK) highlighted concerns about the scheduling and prominence of religious output.
	·	The Director of Television will be bringing a new religion strategy to the Board during the autumn. This will be an update of the strategy approved in 2002.
	·	An independent assessment of the effectiveness of the religion strategy on BBC One in particular, and BBC Television in general, will:
		·	Fulfil the commitment to such a review made by the Governors in the Annual Report
		·	Set the context for consideration of the new religion strategy the Director of Television is planning to bring to the Board during the autumn

2. Scope

The planned work will focus on the output classified as religion on BBC One, given that BBC One is responsible for 80 of the 112 hours religion commitment on BBC terrestrial television. The work will necessarily make reference to the religious output offered by other BBC television networks, and competitors.

The key question it will ask is: Has the Religion Strategy, approved by Governors in 2002, delivered high-quality and wide impact religious output on television, particularly BBC One?

3. Approach

It is proposed that this piece of work be carried out by the Performance &

Accountability team. The work will be largely based on quantitative analysis but will draw on the qualitative research already available. Work will be based on the Reach, Quality, Impact and Value for Money metrics.

4. Timetable

The work will be presented to the Board before the end of this year, ahead of the new strategy being presented by the Director of Television