Purpose Remit Tracking Study 2009 – Northern Irelanddownloads.bbc.co.uk/.../ara2008_09/purpose_remits_n_ireland.pdf · Purpose Remit Tracking Study 2009 – Northern Ireland . Prepared

Purpose Remit Tracking Study 2009 – Northern Ireland

Prepared for: BBC Trust

July 2009

Prepared by: Laura Chandler / Trevor Vagg BMRB Media

Telephone: 020 8433 4379 Email: [email protected]

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction..................................................................................... 1

1.1 Objectives .................................................................................. 1

1.2 Methodology............................................................................... 1

1.3 Explanation of performance gaps ................................................... 2

2 Summary of key findings ................................................................... 4

3 Overall BBC performance measures..................................................... 6

4 BBC Performance on its purposes and priorities..................................... 8

4.1 Overall ranking of performance on priorities .................................... 8

4.2 Understanding performance in the context of driving perception of

value for money ................................................................................ 10

4.3 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence ................................ 13

4.4 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities ............. 15

4.5 Promoting education and learning................................................ 17

4.6 Sustaining citizenship and civil society.......................................... 18

4.7 Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK ..................... 20

4.8 Encouraging use of new communications technologies .................... 21

5 Conclusions.................................................................................... 23

Appendices ............................................................................................ 24

Appendix A – Full listing of personal importance, performance and

performance gap scores ..................................................................... 24

Appendix B – Full listing of performance gaps and correlation with perceived

value for money ................................................................................ 29

Appendix C – Full listing of results for BBC Relationship questions ............ 30

1 Introduction

This report summarises the findings of audience research into perceptions of how

the BBC has performed against its public purposes and each of the priorities

within these. It will focus on results among the population in Northern Ireland and

compare the situation in this nation to the UK as a whole.

The research was conducted in Autumn 2008 and Spring 2009 with results

combined to produce overall performance for 2009.

Similar audience research was conducted in 2007, which will be used to

benchmark results.

1.1 Objectives

The aims of the research were to get feedback from licence fee payers on how

the BBC has performed in the delivery of its public purposes. It was also

important to understand performance ratings in the context of how important

people felt the various BBC priorities were.

Specific objectives of the research were to:

• Gauge licence fee payers’ views on the BBC’s priorities within each public

purpose

• Identify what is important for licence fee payers

• Measure how well the BBC currently performs

• Understand “performance gaps” (as outlined in section 1.3) to identify

areas that the BBC should focus on improving

• Understand how perceptions vary within nation

• Highlight any changes compared to the 2007 research

1.2 Methodology

The research was conducted by BMRB Media, as in 2007, using the same mixed-

methodology approach. Half of the interviews were conducted face-to-face in

people’s homes and half were conducted online amongst members of Lightspeed

Research’s online panel partners in Northern Ireland. This had the advantage of

being cost-effective and also offered people, who may not have had time to take

part at a fixed time with an interviewer, the opportunity to participate in their

own time through an online route.

BMRB Report: BBC Trust Purpose Remit Tracking Study 2009 – Northern Ireland 1

The key section, where respondents were asked to rate the purpose priorities,

was self-completion. This was for both the face to face and online elements to

maximise comparability.

Other important information about the research:

• 2,260 UK adults interviewed (half online, half face-to-face in-home)

between 12th November and 9th December 2008 (1,117) and 9th

February 2009 and 9th March 2009 (1,143)

• Fieldwork was split into two waves across the year to lessen the risk of

results being disproportionately influenced by specific events at a single

point in the year

• Boost interviews within UK nations and non-white respondents to allow

detailed analysis within these audience groups. This resulted in 354

interviews in Northern Ireland.

• Detailed questionnaire (c.40 minutes) covering demographics for

profiling, media consumption, weight of BBC usage, use of new

technologies, opinions on BBC and the key section on rating the BBC’s

priorities in terms of performance and importance.

• Results weighted by demographics, ethnicity and internet use to ensure

they were representative of the UK population as a whole. Quotas were

set within each UK nation to ensure comparability between nations.

As the survey was not a pure random probability survey the statistical principles

that determine the difference needed between percentages for them to be

considered significant cannot, strictly speaking, be applied. Nevertheless, based

on these principles we recommend only treating a difference of at least +/- 7

percentage points as significant when looking at answers based on the full sample

in Northern Ireland either within the 2009 survey or between 2007 and 2009. A

difference between Northern Ireland and the UK should only be considered

significant if there is a difference of at least +/- 5 percentage points.

1.3 Explanation of performance gaps

The term ‘performance gap’ is used throughout this report. This is calculated as

explained below.

Respondents to the survey were asked to rate the BBC’s performance on each of

the priorities within each of the BBC’s purposes. The performance score is the

percentage of adults that agreed with a performance statement for a particular

priority (giving a score of 5-7 out of 7 as per the scale below).


Completely disagree 1 Disagree strongly 2 Disagree slightly 3 Neither agree nor disagree 4 Agree slightly 5 Agree strongly 6 Completely agree 7 We then asked how important it was, for respondents personally, for the BBC to

fulfil each priority. The importance score is the percentage of adults that felt a

statement was important to some extent (giving a score of 5-7 out of 7 as per

the scale below).

Extremely unimportant 1 Very unimportant 2 Quite unimportant 3 Neither important nor unimportant 4 Quite important 5 Very important 6 Vital 7 The performance gap is the difference between the performance and

importance scores for each statement. Let’s take “The BBC has lots of fresh and

new ideas” as an example. The performance score was 48% and the importance

score was 76%. Subtracting the importance score from the performance score

gives a performance gap of -28. A negative number means that the performance

score given was lower than the importance score.


2 Summary of key findings

The level of high approvers1 in Northern Ireland (38%) is lower than in the UK

population as a whole (42%). Only Scotland has a lower level of high approvers

(36%). Adults in Northern Ireland are least likely in the UK to feel that the BBC is

good value for money (41%) compared to 57% for the UK as a whole.

Despite this, almost four-in-five adults in Northern Ireland claim they would miss

the BBC if it wasn’t there (78%). Again this is the lowest of the four UK nations

but the figure is up from 58% in 2007.

Within the audience in Northern Ireland, as in the UK as a whole, the BBC has

relatively strong performance on the Global, Education and Citizenship purposes

with the BBC gaining high performance scores. This is similar to 2007.

Digital priorities continue to get the lowest performance scores but the

importance of the BBC delivering this purpose is also perceived to be lower so

there are no significant performance gaps.

Creativity and Representing nations, regions and communities are the purposes

with the biggest performance gaps and therefore, it would seem at first sight, the

most important for the BBC to improve on. This is true both for the audience in

Northern Ireland and in the UK as a whole.

However, the key driver analysis BMRB conducted suggested that the focus

should be even more strongly on the Creativity purpose. The “fresh and new

ideas”, “programmes and content that are inventive and imaginative” and “wide

range of enjoyable programmes” priorities have considerable performance gaps

and they are very closely correlated with the overall perception of value for

money rating. They are also strongly correlated with each other suggesting that

‘having fresh and new ideas’ is interpreted in terms of programme content.

Correlation between overall value for money and priorities within the Nations,

regions and communities purpose is weaker. This means closing performance

gaps in this area is less likely to change perceptions of the overall value for

money that the BBC delivers.

Regardless of whether priorities fall within the Creativity or Representing nations,

regions and communities purposes, the biggest performance gaps relate to the

quality of programmes and content being offered. It seems to be most important

1 This means giving a score of 8 - 10 out of 10 in response to the question “thinking about the BBC

generally, what is your overall impression on a scale of 1 - 10, where 1 means extremely

unfavourable and 10 means extremely favourable?”


for people to feel that the BBC offers fresh and new ideas for programmes rather

than repeats and programmes that have content and characters that all kinds of

audience groups can identify with. Audience perceptions of value for money are

driven by how well they regard the programmes.

Nevertheless, although there is a relatively big performance gap for “The BBC has

a wide range of enjoyable and entertaining programmes and content” (-12), the

performance score is still relatively high at 68%. Furthermore, BBC1 / 2 (27%)

are still more likely to be mentioned as standing out for delivering this priority

than any other media channel (the next best is any ITV channel at 21%). This is

also true for “having programmes that are inventive and imaginative” and

“having lots of fresh and new ideas”.

The very high audience expectations in this area are a key driver of the

performance gaps.


3 Overall BBC performance measures

3.1 There is a lower share of ‘high approvers’ in Northern Ireland than in the UK as a whole

The group most positive about the BBC (‘high approvers’ who give an overall

approval score of 8 - 10 on a 10 point scale) represents 38% of all adults in

Northern Ireland compared to 42% in the UK. Only Scotland has a lower level of

high approvers (36%).

The ‘mid approvers’ group (rating of 5 - 7 out of 10) remains the biggest group

(47% of all adults in Northern Ireland). Only 14% of all adults in Northern Ireland

are considered low approvers (giving a score of 1 - 4 out of 10). This figure is not

significantly different from the UK.

3.2 Adults in Northern Ireland are least likely to feel that the BBC is good value for money

Only four in ten adults in Northern Ireland (41%) perceive the BBC as being good

value for money compared to 57% in the UK as a whole. This is lower than in any

of the other UK nations (England 58%, Wales 54%, Scotland 49%) but there has

been no change since 2007.

3.3 Likelihood to miss the BBC has increased sharply in Northern Ireland

The most positive support for the BBC comes from the measure of likelihood to

miss the service if it no longer existed. This is the same as for the UK. The

percentage of adults in Northern Ireland likely to miss the BBC has grown from

58% in 2007 to 78% in 2009. The likelihood to miss the BBC has grown faster

than in the UK as a whole (70% to 83%) but the level of likelihood to miss in

Northern Ireland remains lower than in any other UK nation.

Adults in Northern Ireland are just as likely to miss UTV (also 78%) as the BBC

but are more likely to miss the BBC than other broadcasters (Channel 4 68%, Sky

48%, Five 39%).

The size of the group likely to miss the BBC is far greater than the group giving

high approval ratings. This suggests that the BBC is still valued even if some

people are not entirely satisfied with current performance.

3.4 Two-thirds of adults in Northern Ireland consider themselves BBC consumers or stakeholders

Over a third of adults in Northern Ireland (36%) view themselves as consumers

of the BBC (“I think of myself as a consumer of BBC output – I’m bothered about

the programming and services it provides”). A quarter of adults (29%) consider


themselves to be stakeholders of the BBC (“I think of myself as a stakeholder in

the BBC – as a licence fee payer I would like to get more actively involved in

having a say in what the BBC does”). Three-in-ten adults (32%) are considerably

less engaged with the BBC (“I’m not bothered either way – the BBC is largely

irrelevant to me”). This is a very similar to picture to the UK as a whole.

Chart 1: Licence fee payers relationship with the BBC

36%

25%

29%

31%

32%

37%

4%

7%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2009

2007 Consumers

Stakeholders

Not bothered /IrrelevantDon't know

Base: All adults in Northern Ireland aged 15+ (354)

There has been a little movement in relationships with the BBC since 2007 with a

slight shift from the irrelevant group (37% in 2007 to 32% in 2009) to the

consumer group (25% in 2007 to 36% in 2009). This trend is the exact opposite

to that observed in the UK.

3.5 There has been a rise in the percentage of adults in Northern Ireland who are very happy with the BBC

Despite the lower approval scores recorded above, audiences in Northern Ireland

are not more likely to want to change the BBC. More than a quarter of adults in

Northern Ireland (29%) say they are very happy with the BBC as it is. This has

increased from 17% in 2007. The percentage of people who feel they would

change the BBC significantly has reduced in Northern Ireland from 25% in 2007

to 15% in 2009. This is now in line with the UK population. A further half of adults

in Northern Ireland (52%) feel there are a few things they would change but on

the whole they are happy with the BBC the way it is.

Fewer repeats is the change most often requested spontaneously by people who

would like to change something about the BBC (mentioned by 15%). More or

different sports programming (9%), no licence fee (7%), more dramas (7%) and

changes to presenter and management salaries and bonuses (6%) are also high

on the list of unprompted desired changes.


4 BBC Performance on its purposes and priorities

4.1 Overall ranking of performance on priorities

The chart below displays the BBC’s performance score for each priority within

the six purposes in the form of a bar. This is the percentage of adults who agree

with the performance statement (giving a score of 5-7 out of 7).

The importance score is the percentage of adults who feel that a statement is

important to some extent (giving a score of 5-7 out of 7) but this is not shown

explicitly on the chart.

The number to the right of the chart indicates the performance gap. This is the

difference between the performance and importance scores for each statement. A

negative number (e.g. -9) means that the performance score given is lower than

the importance score. Statements are ranked on performance score.

A colour code is used throughout this report to identify the six purposes and

statements designed to measure the priorities within them.

Public purposes key: CREATIVITY - Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence NATIONS & REGIONS - Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities EDUCATION - Promoting education and learning DIGITAL - Encouraging use of new communications technologies GLOBAL - Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK CITIZENSHIP - Sustaining citizenship and civil society A full listing of the performance and importance scores and performance gaps for 2007 and 2009 can be found in Appendix A.


Chart 2: Performance scores and performance gaps

Performance Gap

-2

+1

-13

-4

-3

-4

-19

-5

-32

-22

-18

-28

-10

-6

-16

-2

-20

-14

+2

-8

+1

-3

+5

-5

-12

+1

+2

-12

-2

-6

-1

-6

+3

0

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

The BBC provides quality content that I find enjoyable or useful onmobile phones

The BBC provides quality content that I find enjoyable or useful on DABdigital radio

The BBC has helped me make the most of new technologies such asinteractive TV and the internet

Programmes or content on the BBC sometimes make me want to takepart in a specific event or activity

The BBC provides quality content that I find enjoyable or useful oninteractive TV

The BBC provides quality content that I find enjoyable or useful on theinternet

The BBC introduces me to new interests, hobbies and passions

The BBC supports the indigenous languages of the UK (such as Irish,Welsh, Ulster Scots,Scottish Gaelic and Scots) with programming and

The BBC supports the ... language with programming and other content

The BBC is good at portraying my particular culture or community toother people in the UK

The BBC helps me enjoy my interests, hobbies and passions

The BBC has lots of fresh and new ideas

The BBC introduces me to new UK talent (such as presenters, actors,writers and musical artists)

The BBC helps me feel more involved and interested in my localcommunities

The BBC provides programming and content that caters for my particularculture or community

The BBC raises my awareness and understanding of different religionsand other beliefs

The BBC is good at portraying my region to other people in the UK

The BBC reflects a range of religious and other beliefs appropriately

The BBC has programmes and content that are inventive andimaginative

The BBC helps me understand politics in Europe

The BBC helps me understand politics in the other nations of the UK

The BBC provides programmes and content which cover a wide range ofcultural and creative activities

BBC coverage of news and current affairs has got me talking about them

The BBC helps me understand politics in my region

The BBC provides programming and content that caters for my region

The BBC provides me with the opportunity to share the sameexperiences with other people (like major events, live events and popular

The BBC helps me understand UK-wide politics

The BBC has a wide range of enjoyable and entertaining programmesand content

The BBC provides high quality independent journalism

The BBC helps children/ teens with what they learn at school/ college

The BBC makes news and current affairs and other topical issuesinteresting to me

I have learned new things while enjoying programmes or content on theBBC

The BBC helps me understand and appreciate different cultures andlifestyles of people from around the world

The BBC helps me understand what's going on in the wider world, suchas international news and events



The performance gaps in the chart above, combined with the overall level of

performance, suggest the key areas for improvement are:

• The BBC has lots of fresh and new ideas

• The BBC is good at portraying my culture and community to other people

in the UK

• The BBC is good at portraying my region to other people in the UK

• The BBC introduces me to new interests, hobbies and passions

• The BBC helps me enjoy my interests, hobbies and passions

• The BBC provides programming and content that caters for my particular

culture or community

• The BBC has programmes and content that are inventive and imaginative

All of the priorities fall within the Creativity and Nations, regions and communities

purposes. Similar issues have been identified for the UK as a whole with the

addition of the two statements relating to hobbies and minus “The BBC has

helped me feel more involved and interested in my local communities” which has

a much lower performance gap in Northern Ireland (-6) than the UK (-17).

Although only asked to the minority of adults in Northern Ireland who speak an

indigenous language other than English, the biggest gap was actually for “The

BBC supports [my indigenous language] with programming and content (-32)”.

However, this gap was not evident among the population in Northern Ireland as a

whole who answered a similar statement “The BBC supports the indigenous

languages of the UK (such as Irish, Welsh, Ulster Scots, Scottish Gaelic and

Scots) with programming and other content”. Overall, the gap for supporting

indigenous languages of the UK was only -5 suggesting the majority of the

population feel the BBC does this broadly in line with its importance.

4.2 Understanding performance in the context of driving perception of value for money

While the performance gaps provide an idea of where the BBC is meeting or

failing to meet expectations in the form of stated importance, they do not indicate

the strength with which each statement contributes to the overall perception of

value for money offered by the BBC.

We used key driver analysis, a statistical technique that identifies the strongest

relationships between variables, to understand how each statement correlated

with perceived value for money. This could be considered a derived importance


measure as change in the performance score is most likely to have an impact on

the key overall measure of perception of value for money. This derived

importance also avoids any potential skews in the stated importance scores

towards priorities that are deemed to be more socially worthy.

The analysis has been used to check whether the priorities identified as having

the greatest performance gaps above are really the areas on which to focus. A big

performance gap and strong correlation with perceived value for money would

suggest the factor is making a large negative contribution to perceived value for

money. However, weak correlation with perceived value for money suggests that

the priority makes little contribution to the overall impression of perception of

value for money and is therefore less important, regardless of the level of stated

importance.

The chart below shows the ten priorities identified above as having the largest

performance gaps and displays their correlation with perceived value for money.

A score of 0.4+ is a very strong correlation, 0.3-0.4 is a moderate correlation and

less than 0.3 is a weak correlation.

Chart 3: Correlation with perceived value for money for the priorities with the biggest performance gaps

Performance

gap (bar)

Correlation with perceived

value for money (figure)

0.44

0.24

0.40

0.25

0.29

0.21

0.21

0.22

0.32

0.04

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

The BBC supports my indigenous language of the UK withprogramming and other content

The BBC has lots of fresh and new ideas

The BBC is good at portraying my particular culture or communityto other people in the UK

The BBC is good at portraying my region to other people in theUK

The BBC introduces me to new interests, hobbies and passions

The BBC helps me enjoy my interests, hobbies and passions

The BBC provides programming and content that caters for myparticular culture or community

The BBC has programmes and content that are inventive andimaginative

Programmes or content on the BBC sometimes make me want totake part in a specific event or activity

The BBC has a wide range of enjoyable and entertainingprogrammes and content


This analysis suggests that despite four of the priorities falling within the Nations,

regions and communities purpose, it is in fact the priorities within the Creativity

purpose on which the BBC should focus in order to improve the overall impression


of value for money. This is because the Creativity priorities above have both big

performance gaps and strong correlation with perceived value for money. In

other words the BBC is viewed relatively negatively on the priorities which are

key drivers of value for money.

Although the priorities within the Nations, regions and communities purpose

generally have bigger performance gaps, the fact that they have a much weaker

relationship with perceived value for money suggests that the BBC would get

much less reward for improving performance scores in these areas.

We will now consider each of the purposes in turn and report on the performance

and importance scores.


4.3 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence

Chart 4: Performance and importance scores within the Creativity purpose

The chart above plots the performance and importance scores for each priority on

the same chart. The axes cross at the average importance and performance score

for all priorities for the UK audience as a whole. This means priorities in the top

right quadrant receive higher than average scores for both performance and

importance whilst priorities in the top left would give the most cause for concern

as they would have above average importance but below average performance.

The Creativity section of the BBC’s remit sees some of the largest differences

between personal importance and perceived performance. As outlined in the key

driver analysis (Section 4.2), these priorities are also the most closely linked to

perceptions of the BBC being good value for money. This makes the Creativity

purpose the key area for action for the BBC in the view of the audience in

Northern Ireland and also in line with audiences across the UK.

The fact that there are more priorities appearing in the top left-hand quadrant

indicates that among audiences in Northern Ireland there are some important

priorities within the Creativity purpose where the BBC achieves lower than

average performance scores.


Makes me want to take part

Introduces me to new interests

Helps me enjoy my interests

Has fresh and new ideas

Content covers a wide range of cultures/ creative activities

In

Content is inventive and imaginative

troduces me to new UK talent

Scores shown are % who agree or find important. Lines cross at mean score across all priorities for total UK sample.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Performance

PersonalImportance

Wide range of enjoyable content


The performance gap was higher in Northern Ireland than the UK as a whole for

most priorities within the Creativity purpose including ‘introduces me to new

interests, hobbies and passions’ (-19 v -11) and ‘helps me enjoy my interests,

hobbies and passions’ (-18 v -11), ‘introduces me to new UK talent’ (-10 v -1)

and ‘fresh and new ideas’ (-28 v -21). These four priorities recorded the biggest

differences in gaps compared to the UK and the gap was bigger in Northern

Ireland than in any other UK nation.

There has been little significant change in performance scores compared to 2007.

The biggest shift was for ‘The BBC has a wide range of enjoyable and entertaining

programmes and content’ which improved from 59% to 68%. Consequently this

was the priority with the biggest change in performance gap too (-18 to -12).

The performance scores for this purpose also remain fairly low in comparison to

the UK audience and to the other purposes except Nations, regions and

communities and Digital.


4.4 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities

Chart 5: Performance and importance scores within the Nations, regions and communities purpose

0

10

20

30

50

60

70

80

100

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 0

Performance

PersonalImportance

40

90Good at portraying nation to rest of UK

90 10

Good at portraying my culture/ community

Content caters for my nation

Content caters for my culture/

community Supports [language]

Provides opportunity to share experiences

Helps me feel involved in local community

Reflects a range of beliefs appropriately

Raises awareness of other beliefs

Supports indigenous UK languages



This purpose contained the priorities with the biggest performance gaps and also

recorded some of the lowest performance scores of all. This was the case both in

Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole.

Four priorities fall in the top left quadrant of the chart above. This is the ‘danger’

area of the chart as any priority within that quadrant is considered more

important than the average for the UK audience by the audience in Northern

Ireland yet the performance score is lower than average. However, as recorded

earlier, these priorities have a weaker relationship with overall perception of value

for money than those in the Creativity purpose.

Performance scores are generally higher than the UK average within this purpose

but higher importance scores result in a performance gap that is generally 3 or 4

points bigger than in the UK.

The biggest exception is for the priority “The BBC helps me feel more involved

and interested in my local communities” which scores 11 percentage points

higher for performance in Northern Ireland (50%) than the UK (39%). This also

reduces the performance gap by 11 points to -6 (-17 in the UK). Performance has

improved dramatically compared to 2007 when the performance score was 33%

in Northern Ireland. The same level of improvement was not recorded across the

UK (up from 32% in 2007). One respondent commented: “The BBC has made a


huge effort here in Northern Ireland but it still needs to improve more”. (Male,

aged 53, AB, Northern Ireland).

An improvement in performance score was also recorded for the priority “The BBC

provides me with the opportunity to share the same experiences with other

people”. This rose from 60% in 2007 to 67% in 2009 resulting in a positive

performance gap of +1. This is opposite to the trend seen amongst the UK

population as a whole (a fall from 68% to 64%).

At first glance, the performance score for reflecting a range of beliefs appears to

have increased significantly since 2007 (34% to 52%). However, in response to

the purpose remit consultation in 2007, the wording was altered from “The BBC

reflects my religious and other beliefs appropriately” to “The BBC reflects a range

of religious and other beliefs appropriately”. The wider scope of the question in

2009 is likely to account for this increase. The wording for raising awareness and

understanding of religions and beliefs has remained consistent between the

fieldwork periods and so has the performance score (53% in 2007 and 51% in

2009). This gives a further indication that the former increase in performance

scores is due to the change in question wording.


4.5 Promoting education and learning

Chart 6: Performance and importance scores within the Education purpose

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Performance

PersonalImportance

I’ve learned new things

Helps children

learn

Scores shown are % who agree or find important. Lines cross at mean score across all priorities for total UK sample. Base: All adults in Northern Ireland aged 15+ (354)

The Education purpose is an area of strength for the BBC in Northern Ireland and

throughout the UK. Both priorities measured are near the top in terms of ranking

of all the priority statements for both importance and performance. Hence they

are both firmly in the top right quadrant of the chart above.

However, unlike in the UK where there is no performance gap “I have learned

new things while enjoying programmes or content on the BBC” records a

performance gap of -6 (76% importance, 70% performance) in Northern Ireland.

This is due mainly to a lower performance score than in the UK (78%). This is a

similar gap to 2007 although both the importance and performance scores are

higher than in 2007 (69% and 62% respectively).

There is also a performance gap of -6 for “The BBC helps children/teens with

what they learn at school/college” but this is in line with the UK. The performance

gap remains -6 among parents but both the importance (86%) and performance

scores (80%) are higher.

Examples of comments made by respondents to the survey are:

“Some excellent programmes from the BBC for education, such as wildlife

shows”. (Female, aged 35, AB, Northern Ireland).

“Need more factual programmes for adults. Not enough educational programmes

for over 8 age group”. (Male, aged 38, C1, Northern Ireland).


4.6 Sustaining citizenship and civil society

Chart 7: Performance and importance scores within the Citizenship purpose

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

90

100

0 10 50 60 70 80 90 100

rformance

PersonalImportance

70

80

20 3

Understand politics in other UK nations

0 40Understand European politics PeUnderstand

UK politics

High quality journalism Understand politics in my UK nation

Makes news interesting

Coverage gets me talking Helped me make the most of new

technologies Scores shown are % who agree or find important. Lines cross at mean score across all priorities for total UK sample. Base: All adults in Northern Ireland aged 15+ (354)

BBC performance within priorities related to news and current affairs is generally

seen to be positive and they are priorities that are important to people.

Consequently, most priorities in the Citizenship purpose are in the top right hand

quadrant for the audience in Northern Ireland as they are for the UK as a whole.

Comments from respondents in Northern Ireland which support this include:

“I think the BBC News Service is the most important element within the BBC.”

(Male, aged 35, C2, Northern Ireland).

“This, in my view, is the BBC's strength - high quality news coverage available on

a range of media 24 hours a day.” (Female, aged 40, AB, Northern Ireland).

The exception is “The BBC has helped me make the most of new technologies”

which has a much lower performance score but correspondingly low importance

score too. This is the same situation in the UK generally and relates to the fact

that many people do not see the new technologies as relevant to them. The

performance gap for this priority has reduced from -11 to -4 since 2007 (0) in the

UK.

Other performance gaps are also generally slightly smaller within this purpose in

Northern Ireland than in the UK, with some signs of improvement since 2007.

However, the changes are within the margin of error of the survey.


There is a performance gap of -5 for the priority “help understand politics in

Northern Ireland” (71% importance, 66% performance). This is the biggest gap

within this purpose, as it is in England (-8) and Wales (-7), but the gap is not

significantly different from the UK average. By contrast, there are positive

performance gaps for “helping me understand politics in Europe” (+2) and

“helping me understand politics in the other nations of the UK (+1). Both of these

priorities have a performance gap of -4 in the UK.


4.7 Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK

Chart 8: Performance and importance scores within the Global purpose

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Performance

PersonalImportance

Understand wider world Understand

cultures and lifestyles


The Global purpose is another area of strength for the BBC in Northern Ireland

and the UK. Priorities within the Global purpose record high scores for both

performance and importance keeping the priority statements firmly in the top

right hand quadrant of the chart as for the UK audience as a whole.

Whilst still at high levels, adults in Northern Ireland rate both performance and

importance lower than UK adults in general. This results in similar performance

gaps.

There are no significant changes in the performance scores compared to 2007.


4.8 Encouraging use of new communications technologies

Chart 9: Performance and importance scores within the Digital purpose

0

10

20

30

60

70

80

90

100

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Performance

PersonalImportance

50Provides quality content on

the internet 40

Provides quality content on interactive TV

Provides quality content on digital radio

Provides quality content on mobile


Unlike any other purpose all of the priorities feature in the bottom left hand

quadrant of the chart above. This indicates that although performance scores are

lower than for other purposes this is an area that is much less important to

licence fee payers than the other purposes. Consequently, there are no significant

performance gaps.

The statement “the BBC provides quality content that I find enjoyable or useful

on mobile phones” gains the lowest performance score of all (18%). However, it

is also seen as the least important priority (22%) due to a very small audience

using mobile internet.

The only significant difference in performance score compared to the UK is for the

priority “The BBC provides quality content on the internet” (40% in Northern

Ireland compared to 46% in the UK). One factor contributing to this is that a

lower percentage of adults have used the internet in the last month in Northern

Ireland (64%) than in the UK (67%). Again, importance is lower in Northern

Ireland too so the performance gap is not significantly different from the UK

audience as a whole.

There have been no significant changes in importance scores, performance scores

or performance gaps in Northern Ireland compared to 2007.


Looking at the same statements among people who use each technology does

change the picture somewhat, as in the chart below. Both the performance and

importance scores go up but the performance gap does not tend to change

significantly.

Chart 10: Performance and importance scores within the Digital purpose based on users of each technology only

0

10

20

30

40

70

80

90

100

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

erformance

PersonalImportance

50 PProvides quality content on digital radio

80 90 100

Provides quality content on interactive TV

60Provides quality content on the internet

Provides quality content on mobile

Base: All users of each technology in Northern Ireland (internet 289, mobile internet 53, iTV 144, DAB 99)


All of the BBC’s Digital priorities perform better within audience groups who use

the services in Northern Ireland, as throughout the UK. However, comments from

respondents highlight some feelings that potentially influenced the performance

scores given.

“The BBC iPlayer is a fantastic idea.” (Female, aged 37, C2, Northern Ireland).

“Why is there a lack of HD programmes on the BBC compared to other HD

channels? (Male, aged 38, C2, Northern Ireland).

“Their interactive service could be better.” (Male, aged 26, C2, Northern Ireland).


5 Conclusions

The level of high approvers in Northern Ireland (38%) is lower than in the UK

population as a whole (42%) and adults in Northern Ireland are least likely in the

UK to feel the BBC is good value for money (41%) compared to 57% for the UK

as a whole.

Nevertheless, within the audience in Northern Ireland, as in the UK as a whole,

the BBC has relatively strong performance on the Global, Education and

Citizenship purposes with the BBC gaining high performance scores. Digital

priorities continue to get the lowest performance scores but the importance of the

BBC delivering this purpose is also perceived to be lower.

As in 2007, Creativity and Representing nations, regions and communities are the

purposes with the biggest performance gaps. Special analysis of correlation with

the overall value for money measure suggests that the BBC’s focus should be

even more strongly on the Creativity purpose to improve overall perceptions of

the value the BBC delivers for the licence fee. The “fresh and new ideas”,

“programmes and content that are inventive and imaginative” and “wide range of

enjoyable programmes” priorities have considerable performance gaps and they

are very closely correlated with the overall measure of value for money. This is

true both for the audience in Northern Ireland and in the UK as a whole.

It appears that audience perceptions of overall value for money are driven by

how well they regard the BBC’s programmes.


Appendices

Appendix A – Full listing of personal importance, performance and performance gap scores

Statement Personal

Importance PerformanceGap (NI)

Gap (UK)

CREATIVITY PURPOSE

2007 64 49 -15 -8

AVERAGE FOR CREATIVITY PURPOSE 2009 66 52 -14 -9

2007 72 45 -27 -21

The BBC has lots of fresh and new ideas 2009 76 48 -28 -21

2007 65 49 -16 -8 The BBC helps me enjoy my interests, hobbies and passions 2009 66 48 -18 -11

2007 56 40 -16 -9 The BBC introduces me to new interests, hobbies and passions 2009 59 40 -19 -11

2007 65 60 -5 0 The BBC provides programmes and content which cover a wide range of cultural and creative activities 2009 66 63 -3 -2

2007 51 41 -10 -3

Programmes or content on the BBC sometimes make me want to take part in a specific event or activity (2007: Watching or listening to some programmes…) 2009 52 39 -13 -7

2007 77 59 -18 -9 The BBC has a wide range of enjoyable and entertaining programmes and content 2009 80 68 -12 -9

2007 x x x x The BBC introduces me to new UK talent (such as presenters, actors, writers and musical artists) 2009 58 48 -10 -1

2007 x x x x The BBC has programmes and content that are inventive and imaginative 2009 72 58 -14 -10


Statement Personal


Gap (UK)

CITIZENSHIP PURPOSE

2007 60 57 -3 -3

AVERAGE FOR CITIZENSHIP PURPOSE 2009 62 61 -1 -3

2007 65

63

-2

-2

The BBC provides high quality independent journalism (2007: The BBC sets the standard for high quality and independent journalism) 2009 70 68 -2 -6

2007 69 65 -4 -2 The BBC makes news and current affairs and other topical issues interesting to me 2009 71 70 -1 -3

2007 57 58 +1 0 BBC coverage of news and current affairs has got me talking about them 2009 59 64 +5 +4

2007 63 61 -2 -3

The BBC helps me understand UK-wide politics (2007: The BBC helps me understand how the UK is governed politically) 2009 65 67 +2 +1

2007 x x x x The BBC helps me understand politics in Europe 2009 57 59 +2 -4

2007 x x x x The BBC helps me understand politics in [own nation or if England "my region"] 2009 71 66 -5 -8

2007 x x x x The BBC helps me understand politics in the other nations of the UK [insert other 3 nations of the UK not nation lived in] 2009 61 62 +1 -4

2007 47 36 -11 -8

The BBC has helped me make the most of new technologies such as interactive TV and the internet (2007: The BBC has helped me understand how to use technology like interactive TV and the internet) 2009 39 35 -4 0


Statement Personal


Gap (UK)

GLOBAL PURPOSE

2007 75 73 -2 0

AVERAGE FOR GLOBAL PURPOSE 2009 72 74 +2 +1

2007 76 75 -1 +1

The BBC helps me understand what's going on in the wider world, such as international news and events (2007: The BBC ensures that audiences within the UK are aware of, and understand, what's going on in the world) 2009 72 75 +3 +2

2007 73 70 -3 -1

The BBC helps me understand and appreciate different cultures and lifestyles of people from around the world (2007: The BBC helps audiences within the UK to understand and appreciate different cultures and lifestyles of people from around the world 2009 72 72 0 -1

NATIONS, REGIONS & COMMUNITIES PURPOSE

2007 61 45 -16 -9 AVERAGE FOR NATIONS, REGIONS & COMMUNITIES PURPOSE 2009 63 53 -10 -9

2007 x x x x The BBC is good at portraying [own nation or if England ‘my region’] to other people in the UK 2009 72 52 -20 -17

2007 x x x x The BBC is good at portraying my particular culture or community to other people in the UK 2009 66 44 -22 -18

2007 x x x x The BBC provides programming and content that caters for [own nation or if England ‘my region’] 2009 78 66 -12 -8

2007 x x x x The BBC provides programming and content that caters for my particular culture or community 2009 66 50 -16 -14


Statement Personal


Gap (UK)

2007 68 60 -8 +2

The BBC provides me with the opportunity to share the same experiences with other people (like major events, live events and popular programmes) 2009 66 67 +1 -2

2007 58 33 -25 -21

The BBC helps me feel more involved and interested in my local communities (2007: The BBC helps me feel more involved in my local communities) 2009 56 50 -6 -17

2007 55 34 -21 -13

The BBC reflects a range of religious and other beliefs appropriately (2007: The BBC reflects my religious and other beliefs appropriately) 2009 60 52 -8 -5

2007 64 53 -11 -1 The BBC raises my awareness and understanding of different religions and other beliefs 2009 53 51 -2 -1

2007 73 36 -37 -23

ONLY ASKED TO THOSE WHO SPEAK AN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE* The BBC supports the [language spoken] language with programming and other content 2009 76 44 -32 -27

2007 x x x x

The BBC supports the indigenous languages of the UK (such as Irish, Welsh, Ulster Scots, Scottish Gaelic and Scots) with programming and other content 2009 48 43 -5 -2

EDUCATION PURPOSE

2007 69 62 -7 -2

AVERAGE FOR EDUCATION PURPOSE 2009 76 70 -6 -4

2007 69 62 -7 -2 I have learned new things while enjoying programmes or content on the BBC (2007: The BBC helps me to learn different things) 2009 76 70 -6 0

2007 x x x x The BBC helps children/ teens with what they learn at school/ college 2009 75 69 -6 -8


Statement Personal


Gap (UK)

DIGITAL PURPOSE

2007 36 33 -3 -1

AVERAGE FOR DIGITAL PURPOSE 2009 34 32 -2 -1

2007 47 42 -5 -1 The BBC provides quality content that I find enjoyable or useful on the internet 2009 42 40 -2 0

2007 23 19 -4 -1 The BBC provides quality content that I find enjoyable or useful on mobile phones 2009 22 18 -4 -2

2007 40 38 -2 +1 The BBC provides quality content that I find enjoyable or useful on interactive TV 2009 39 40 +1 -2

2007 32 31 -1 -2 The BBC provides quality content that I find enjoyable or useful on DAB digital radio 2009 32 29 -3 -2

2007 59 50 -9 -4

AVERAGE FOR ALL PURPOSES 2009 61 54 -7 -6

Base (NI): All adults aged 15+ in Northern Ireland (2007: 503, 2009: 354)

except * (2007: 59, 2009: 50)

Base (UK): All UK adults aged 15+ (2007: 4,508, 2009: 2,260) except * (2007:

256, 2009: 272)

X = not asked in 2007.

Average score calculation: The average score is calculated by adding the score for

each priority asked within that year and dividing by the number of priorities

included. The average score is then rounded to 0 decimal places.

*The BBC supports the [language spoken] language with programming and other

content is excluded from average score calculations as this statement is not

answered by the full sample.


Appendix B – Full listing of performance gaps and correlation with perceived value for money

The chart below shows all priorities, ranked by the performance gap.

The figure to the right of the bar is the correlation with perceived value

for money. A score of 0.4+ is a very strong correlation, 0.3-0.4 is a

moderate correlation and less than 0.3 is a weak correlation.

Correlation with

perceived value

for money

(figure)

-40 -30 -20 -10 0 10

The BBC supports my indigenous language of the UK with programming and other content 0.04

0.32 The BBC has lots of fresh and new ideas

0.22 The BBC is good at portraying my particular culture or community to other people in the UK

0.21 The BBC is good at portraying my region to other people in the UK

0.21The BBC introduces me to new interests, hobbies and passions

0.29 The BBC helps me enjoy my interests, hobbies and passions

The BBC provides programming and content that caters for my particular culture or community 0.250.40The BBC has programmes and content that are inventive and imaginative

0.24

0.44 The BBC has a wide range of enjoyable and entertaining programmes and content

0.31The BBC provides programming and content that caters for my region

0.35

0.32 0.24

0.27

0.37

0.260.16

0.28

0.26 0.24

0.30

0.30

0.37

0.21 0.33

0.34

0.35

0.24 0.25 0.32

0.28

0.32

0.28

The BBC provides me with the opportunity to share the same experiences with other people

The BBC helps me feel more involved and interested in my local communities

The BBC helps children/ teens with what they learn at school/ college

The BBC provides high quality independent journalism

Programmes or content on the BBC sometimes make me want to take part in a specific event or activity

The BBC introduces me to new UK talent (such as presenters, actors, writers and musical artists)

The BBC reflects a range of religious and other beliefs appropriately

The BBC helps me understand politics in my nation of the UK

The BBC makes news and current affairs and other topical issues interesting to me

The BBC provides quality content that I find enjoyable or useful on DAB digital radio

The BBC provides quality content that I find enjoyable or useful on mobile phones

The BBC provides programmes and content which cover a wide range of cultural and creative activities

The BBC helps me understand and appreciate different cultures and lifestyles of people from around the world

The BBC has helped me make the most of new technologies such as interactive TV and the internet

The BBC supports the indigenous languages of the UK with programming and other content

The BBC raises my awareness and understanding of different religions and other beliefs

I have learned new things while enjoying programmes or content on the BBC

The BBC provides quality content that I find enjoyable or useful on the internet

The BBC helps me understand politics in the other nations of the UK

The BBC provides quality content that I find enjoyable or useful on interactive TV

The BBC helps me understand politics in Europe

The BBC helps me understand UK-wide politics

The BBC helps me understand what's going on in the wider world, such as international news and events

BBC coverage of news and current affairs has got me talking about them

Performance gap (bar) BMRB Report: BBC Trust Purpose Remit Tracking Study 2009 – Northern Ireland 29

Appendix C – Full listing of results for BBC Relationship questions

As mentioned in the report, there were a number of questions which explored

licence fee payers’ relationship with the BBC. The results for all of these questions

for both 2007 and 2009 are detailed here.

Overall approval

Question: Thinking about the BBC generally, what is your overall impression on a

scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means extremely unfavourable and 10 means extremely

favourable?

Overall approval 2007 2009

High (8-10) 28% 38%

Medium (5-7) 50% 47%

Low (1-4) 21% 14%

Mean Score 6.03 6.57

Don’t Know 1% 1%

Base: All adults aged 15+ in Northern Ireland (2007: 503, 2009: 354)

Perceived value for money

Question: The TV Licence fee, which pays for all BBC services, costs £139.50 per

year, which works out at about £11.60 per month, and must be paid by every

household with a colour television. Thinking back over the last month and

remembering the BBC programmes you and your household may have watched

on TV or heard on the radio, as well as any BBC internet sites you may have

visited, please would you tell me the extent to which you feel your household

gets value for the licence fee you pay?

Perceived value for money 2007 2009

Very good value 8% 8%

Fairly good value 32% 33%

Not very good value 23% 32%

Not at all good value 32% 25%

NET GOOD VALUE 41% 41%

NET NOT GOOD VALUE 56% 57%

Don’t Know 4% 2%



Whether would miss the BBC

Question: I would miss the BBC if it wasn't there.

I would miss the BBC if it wasn't

there

2007 2009

Definitely agree 29% 42%

Tend to agree 29% 35%

Neither agree nor disagree 12% 5%

Tend to disagree 13% 9%

Definitely disagree 15% 7%

NET AGREE 58% 78%

NET DISAGREE 29% 16%

Don’t Know 2% 1%


Relationship with the BBC

Question: Which of the following statements best applies to you?

Relationship with the BBC 2007 2009

I think of myself as a consumer of

BBC output - I'm bothered about the

programming and services it provides

25% 36%

I think of myself as a stakeholder in

the BBC - as a licence fee payer, I

would like to get more actively involved

in having a say in what the BBC does

31% 29%

I'm not bothered either way - the BBC

is largely irrelevant to me

37% 32%

Don’t Know 7% 4%



Desire to change the BBC

Question: Which of the following statements best applies to you?

Desire to change the BBC 2007 2009

If I had my way I'd change the BBC

significantly

25% 15%

There are a few things about the BBC

that I would change, but on the whole

I'm happy with the way it is

53% 52%

I'm very happy with the BBC as it is 17% 29%

Don’t Know 5% 4%



Documents

Purpose Remit Tracking Study 2009 – Northern Irelanddownloads.bbc.co.uk/.../ara2008_09/purpose_remits_n_ireland.pdf · Purpose Remit Tracking Study 2009 – Northern Ireland . Prepared