Tuesday, February 02, 2016

How can the BBC get its marketing to its older viewers so wrong?

The way the BBC is funded is a throwback to another era. Only the Brits could have a system that forced everybody who has a TV to pay an annual fee to fund the channel. In an age where the difference between a TV and any other computer is zilch it beggars belief that the BBC continues with this method of funding.

Anyway, that is not the reason for this blog. If you are over the age of 75 you get to watch the TV for free. That is the rule.

The BBC is being forced to pay for all of these older people, which represents a loss of about £700 million.

So some bright spark in the BBC's marketing department has come up with the idea of having an advertising campaign to persuade the 75+ to pay the fee, even though they are legally not obliged to do so. It is a bit like asking them to contribute the money to the BBC 'charity'.

This is where the story enters the realm of fantasy. The BBC has decided to get a lot of older celebrities to make an advert saying that they are not paying the fee and suggesting that older viewers do the same thing. Of course these celebrities are the people who are paid 7 digit sums of money to work for the BBC. All of them are multi-millionaires. The people they want to dig into their pockets and pay the fee are some of the poorest members of society.

No wonder the BBC is in such a mess. Dick Stroud





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