Insight & strategy Public interest The BBC is facing perhaps the biggest transformation of its 98-year history, and data is helping it connect and reconnect with audiences. By Katie McQuater W Our purpose is to enable the BBC to do more for all audiences hen Tim Davie took up his role as the 17th director general of the BBC in September 2020, he said in his introductory speech: The future of a universal BBC can no longer be taken for granted. We have no inalienable right to exist. We are only as good as the value we deliver our audiences, our customers. He added: For the avoidance of doubt, I do not want a subscription BBC that serves the few. The manifesto underlined the challenges faced by the public service broadcaster one major one being funding: the government has said the licence fee will be reviewed before the current charter ends in 2027. With a diverse media landscape ever before, and the rise of on-demand television, audio and podcasts through Prime Video, the Beeb no longer has the monopoly on the attention of British audiences in the way it used to. The challenge is clear for the organisations director of audiences, Nick North. Our purpose is to enable the BBC to do more for all audiences to make sure that the decisions being made and the way data is being used to enhance audiences expectations of the BBC is optimised which is to say that all licence-fee payers are getting enough value from the BBC. No one experience of the BBC is quite 30 Impact ISSUE 34 2021_pp30-33 I&S Beeb.indd 30 18/06/2021 13:45