A breakdown of BBC World TV and Radio: the different programmes, what they cover and what they want from PRs.
BBC World News
BBC World News is the BBC’s international news and current affairs television channel. Broadcasting in 200 countries worldwide and 434 million TV households; BBC World News serves a weekly audience of 99 million viewers.
BBC World News has several programmes dedicated to business running throughout the day. The key shows include:
- World Business Report
- Business Live
- Talking Business
- Africa Business Report
- Asia Business Report
These Business programmes cover a range of topics including the latest business and economic news from around the world.
Programmes such as the Africa Business Report focus on the latest business news, technology tales and consumer trends from across Africa. It covers the themes driving African businesses that are investing at home and abroad; along with global businesses which are coming to Africa.
The Asia Business Report programme tells the big economic stories, bringing them to life and explaining how they affect Asia as a whole and you as an individual. Broadcast live from the BBC’s Singapore studio, there’s a team of locally-employed producers and reporters giving the region’s perspective on the world of business.
BBC World News is run by Neil Heathcote, who manages a team of six producers and presenters.
BBC World Service
BBC World Service, ‘the World’s Radio Station’, serves a unique, unduplicated audience of 51 million across 27 languages.
BBC World Service has 3 main radio programmes that focus on the business agenda.
- Business Matters
- Business Daily
- World Business Report
Business Matters is an hour long news programme, repeated throughout the day across BBC World Service and Radio 4. Business Daily is a 30 minute feature programme which takes a sideways look at the world of business, covering everything from Sex Robots to BitCoin. World Business Report is also a 30 minute programme, with a focus on the latest business and finance news from around the world.
The World Service Business team also produces business and economics news for the main World Service news programmes Newsday and Newshour. Producers and editors are always on the lookout for business content that reflects global business and economics trends.
World Service schedules are fiendishly complicated and vary from country to country and continent to continent. Martin Webber is the editor of World Service Radio Business coverage.
What do they want from PRs?
BBC World News and BBC World Service have a global outlook. Both are predominantly looking for stories on businesses that reflect global business and economics trends.
World Service in particular looks for business stories with an environmental angle. For example, how the price of solar energy is falling so more African countries are turning to solar.
Both World News and World Service are constantly on the lookout for good commentators on the news story of the day. Crucially they need you to be able to take your global story and make it relevant to a local audience.
If you want to pitch your stories to the BBC for coverage on World News or World Service you’ll need to ensure your stories resonate with the BBC’s global viewers.
Want to pitch your stories to BBC World News and BBC World Service?
Get a copy of our FREE eBook: The PR’s Guide to the BBC: The Business Edition, covering the key areas of the BBC World TV and Radio, pitching tips and more; with commentary and tips from editors, producers and reporters across the BBC.
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About Roxhill
Roxhill Media is the real-time media intelligence platform. Founded in 2015 by Alex Northcott, the founder of the original Gorkana database. Roxhill’s topic-led media database allows businesses and PRs to effectively target journalists and news outlets around the world.
