Ofcom announces public broadcaster survey changes

The proposals, which are part of a new ‘public service media’ tracker due to begin in the spring, will expand the survey to people who consume none or low amounts of public service broadcasting.

A new section will also be added to examine how well major content providers such as Sky, Amazon, Netflix and YouTube offer services similar to public service broadcasting.

The current survey measures public opinion of the BBC’s channels and the main channels of ITV, STV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and S4C.

The consultation proposals also include updated wording for certain questions and additional background or descriptive context to help participants.

Changes to fieldwork methodology will also be considered to accommodate Covid-19 restrictions. Ofcom had suspended fieldwork during 2020 due to the pandemic, and has also made changes to several other research surveys and trackers during the crisis.

Responses to the proposals should be sent to market.research@ofcom.org.uk by 12pm on 27th January 2021.