Audience Services

The BBC has procured customer management services to support a broad range of services including:

• Handling editorial and non-editorial complaints

• Responding to enquiries

• Managing comments & appreciations

• Technical support for iPlayer, Sounds, BBC Account

• Reception Advice

• BBC Action Lines

• BBC Charitable Appeals & Donations collections (Lifeline & Radio 4)

• Artist mail

• Ticketing for BBC shows

• 'Take Part' in a show

• BBC Switchboard

The BBC has a mission to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which continue to inform, educate and entertain. Audience Services supports this by continuing to put our audiences at the heart of our operation, providing them exceptional service, irrespective of channel. We engage them with respect and understanding and work to build audience loyalty to the BBC and the Licence Fee.

The over-riding objective of the procurement was to enhance the service offering whilst maintaining the high quality of the services enjoyed by audiences today. Potential efficiency opportunities were assessed for all service lines, in particular how the introduction of new technologies such as AI can augment case handling making our skilled agents even more efficient and effective. We also want to make better use of the rich data we compile to help us drive audience insights across the BBC.

Examples of potential use cases already identified include:

• Sifting and grouping contacts which relate to the same issue, which can be handled via bulk responses

• Drawing from our Knowledge database to draft responses for agents to review

• Increasing audience self-service via dynamic FAQ surfaced using Chatbot

We made use of the negotiation phase of this procurement to work with bidders to really develop this thinking and ensure we deliver the best operating model possible for the next generation of Audience Services. The procurement has awarded the contract to a single supplier to provide a seamless end-to-end service to audiences in conjunction with the BBC team.

The BBC has entered into a contract to allow for a 12-month transition period, to Service Commencement on 16th April 2026. The service provision has an initial term of five years ending on 31st March 2031. The Contract may be extended, at the BBC's discretion, by up to 36 months. This means that the maximum length of the service provision could be 8 years. The total value includes all maximum, potential extensions to the contract.