BBC Bitesize promotion will 'kill start-ups and destroy jobs'

Educational publishers have raised concerns over the BBC’s revision platform Bitesize, after the organisation launched a free app with cross-promotion on BBC TV and Radio. According to one educational company, the BBC will “kill British start ups” and contribute towards job losses if it continues to push the Bitesize app.

The BBC is currently under intense pressure to curb services paid for by the licence-fee payers that directly compete with commercial providers. A White Paper on the BBC released by the government on Monday (16th May), argued that the BBC should have "distinctive content" at its heart, but it also highlighted the BBC’s role in providing “specialist educational content to help support learning for children and teenagers across the UK”. As part of this review, the corporation has this week announced which services it would be scaling back and which it would be prioritising. Among those areas it will be curbing are its food site, which will drop 11,000 free recipes, travel articles, magazine-style content and local news.

But The Bookseller understands that the prioritisation of education, as well as the launch of the Bitesize app, have concerned commercial educational publishers and start-ups working in the edtech field. A meeting took place on Monday (16th May) organised by the Publishers Association and the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), where concerns about Bitesize were raised.

In particular, some education publishers have been rattled by what they see as heavy promotion of its new Bitesize revision app, with adverts for it run recently during prime air time after the 10 o’clock News, on Radio One and on Facebook. In addition, although the Bitesize website does promote published educational content, the current version of the app does not, raising concerns that it could hit sales of revision titles during this peak period.

George Burgess, founder of mobile exam preparation app Gojimo, said: “The BBC is an incredible organisation which I love and support. However, the massive annual increase in the BBC Bitesize budget and its exploitation of its marketing channels and reach, will kill British startups and result in job losses.

“There are a number of large educational publishers and an even larger array of smaller edtech startups who are active in the revision space. With Bitesize being advertised on BBC One, Radio One and all over Facebook, it'll be impossible for anyone to compete, let alone us smaller startups. We welcome competition but believe that the BBC is behaving in an anticompetitive manner.”

M.d of Collins Learning and current chair of the education publishers council at the Publishers Association Colin Hughes said he was also troubled by the development of Bitesize. “We recognise that Bitesize has been around for a very long time, but the BBC has created an app and is using its significant channels to promote something that directly competes with existing material that we as an industry deliver in print,” he said.

While the BBC regularly holds meetings with educational publishers, it is understood the organisation did not hold discussions with any of the key educational players about the recent promotion of the Bitesize app, who fear their revision guide sales could be hit this season.

The BBC clarified that its budget for formal learning content had not increased, but changed to include the budget for Learning Zone, with the content now sitting together.

A BBC Spokesperson said: “BBC Bitesize has always been an important part of the BBC's online mission and supports study and revision outside the classroom, at home and on the go. Its importance as an ongoing priority has been reaffirmed in the publication of the Online Creative Review. BBC Learning has worked closely with the commercial education sector. This has included providing onward links from BBC Bitesize to other providers to improve the learning experience for our audience and benefit the commercial industry.”

The spokesperson added: “BBC Learning also regularly holds briefings with the education sector to outline our activity, plans and budget, and engages with stakeholders on a frequent basis.”

The new Bitesize app was launched in April, and includes a mix of text, audio, video, infographics, quotes and quizzes. The launch version of the app also includes curriculum-linked content for the core subjects of English, maths and science. Further subjects and increased functionality will be added with each future update of the app, the BBC said.

Caroline Wright, director general designate of the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) said the BBC produced “excellent educational content for children and young people” and added that it was no surprise therefore that BBC Bitesize would continue to be a priority for the corporation moving forward.

“The BBC Learning team has worked hard over recent years to better engage with commercial content providers and education resource suppliers, including the positive addition of the ‘Linking Out’ service which makes commercial content available alongside BBC resources on the Bitesize website,” she said.

Through services such as ‘Linking Out’ the BBC also helps support the UK’s “vibrant and world leading digital and print publishing industry” by showcasing the best in UK digital education content, Wright added.

However, she said: “Unfortunately this added functionality has not yet been made available on the new BBC Bitesize app that was launched last month. This is of concern to commercial content providers and it will be important for the BBC to address this as part of their ongoing efforts to enhance the user experience for young people and learners, as soon as possible."

Stephen Lotinga, c.e.o of the Publishers Association, said: “There needs to be a careful balance between the BBC using the content it has paid for with public money to the maximum benefit of licence fee payers while having sensitivity to the fact that its activity has an impact on commercial alternatives. In the case of cooking recipes, the BBC themselves have concluded they got the balance wrong. We remain engaged with them over Bitesize and are keen to ensure any developments have limited impact on our members commercial activities."