‘A losing battle’: will UK public service broadcasters survive amid US onslaught?

Public service broadcasters (PSBs) in the UK – including the BBC, Channel 4, and ITV – are facing an uncertain future as they battle against the growing dominance of US digital rivals such as YouTube and Netflix. Former BBC Director-General Matt Brittin, a former Google executive, has announced up to 2,000 job cuts as part of an overhaul of the broadcaster's licence fee funding model with the government. Channel 4, meanwhile, has announced redundancies of 28% of its staff amid a slump in advertising and stretched finances.

US tech companies, such as YouTube's Google, Facebook, Instagram's Meta, and Netflix, are investing billions to develop their businesses into viewing, subscription, and advertising giants. By 2028, these companies are forecast to take almost $50bn (£38bn) in UK ad revenues, with 90% of all ad spend expected to be digital. This expansion leaves PSBs struggling to find alternative funding sources, as traditional TV advertising is forecast to shrink by 2031 by 60% from 2015 levels.

The BBC's licence fee income has fallen by 38% in real terms since 2010, leading the broadcaster to lose 2.7 million payers of the £180 annual charge since the beginning of the decade. Currently, the BBC has 23.3 million contributors, the lowest level since 1999. Brittin has called the current funding model a "busted flush" and "insufficient to sustain a universal public service."

These financial pressures leave the PSBs in a race against time to find alternative funding models, as they compete with well-funded US rivals that have significant budgets for programme-making. Netflix alone has a content budget of $20bn this year, while YouTube is close to overtaking the BBC as the most popular platform in Britain for TV and streaming viewing.

Former ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall has suggested that a sale of the broadcaster's streaming arm to Sky may be the only way to ensure its survival. Collaboration between the three UK PSBs has been limited, but recent moves by the BBC and Channel 4 to address these challenges, such as discussing advertising revenue sharing between the PSBs, suggest a shift towards greater collaboration as the industry faces its survival crisis.