大象传媒

The Trust reviewed the 大象传媒 services specifically targeted at young people - 大象传媒 Three, Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra, and looked at how well the 大象传媒 serves younger audiences across all of its TV, radio, and online services.

The review also included other content for younger audiences, such as 大象传媒 Switch and the formal learning provision like 大象传媒 Bitesize.

大象传媒 Trustee Alison Hastings, who led the review said:

"Young audiences are one of the hardest groups to reach. Our review shows that 大象传媒 Three, Radio 1 and 1Xtra are doing a particularly good job in serving young people. 大象传媒 Three's strong reputation for comedy, Radio 1's promotion of new UK music and ability to reach a large number of young people with its news bulletins, and 1Xtra's support for music not heard elsewhere are all strong achievements.

"Although the 大象传媒 is doing well, there are areas where more can be done, for example through more ambitious speech output on Radio 1, continuing development of 大象传媒 Three's online activities and encouraging young people to access 大象传媒 news in ways that suit them. We will now look to 大象传媒 management to build on the good work they have in place."

The review's findings and the Trust's actions

Overall performance on all 大象传媒 services

The 大象传媒 serves young people well. Nine out of ten young people use 大象传媒 services every week, and the 大象传媒 as a whole provides a good range of high quality content for this group. 大象传媒 One remains the most viewed service in the UK amongst young people, the 大象传媒's formal learning output is extremely popular and 大象传媒 Switch is serving young teenagers well, especially on radio and online.

However the 大象传媒 faces growing challenges in engaging young people with its news provision and reaching teenagers on television. These are areas in which we will be monitoring the 大象传媒's action in the future. And while we have not considered editorial matters in this review, we are very clear that while content can be tailored in tone, subject nature and presentation, to suit younger people it must always conform to the 大象传媒's editorial guidelines.

大象传媒 Three

The Trust found that 大象传媒 Three has become increasingly effective at reaching its target audience. The evidence shows that the quality and range of the channel's output is good overall, and we are supportive of its strong track record in taking creative risks and using new on-air talent.

The Trust believes that 大象传媒 Three's focus should remain on UK originations, and as part of this we support 大象传媒 management's aim to offer a full range of programming on the channel. However, awareness and usage of 大象传媒 Three's online activities is low, and we believe the service can achieve more in this area.

We will amend parts of the channel's service licence to set a clearer framework for how the channel should deliver public value to young people. In addition we have identified some wider issues about for all 大象传媒 television channels, such as reach in ethnic minority homes, which will be addressed in the review of other 大象传媒 channels, to start later this year.

大象传媒 Radio 1

The Trust found that Radio 1 reaches a large number of young people and is highly effective at promoting some of the 大象传媒's public purposes. Its news reaches a very large young audience, and it plays an important part in promoting new music artists in the UK.

However we believe the station should renew its focus on serving the younger age elements of its target audience, where reach is declining. We will be monitoring its reach to the 15-29 year target audience closely in the coming years. We also believe that Radio 1 has the potential to deliver some further public value through its speech output, given the strength of its market position.

大象传媒 Radio 1Xtra

The Trust found that Radio 1Xtra is a growing service, although digital-only distribution has limited the size of its audience. However listeners are positive about its output, particularly its music.

The Trust has approved two changes to the service in order to allow it to offer greater public value. These are defining the window for playing new British music in order to help the station increase its support for emerging artists and making changes to its news output so that it can increase the reach of its news, and better meet the needs of listeners.

Notes to Editors:

The review began in September 2008 and included a twelve week consultation with licence fee payers. This was promoted on the services themselves and elsewhere. The consultation received over 9000 responses from the public; this is the largest response the Trust has had to one of its service reviews.

The Trust also drew on a range of audience research and held meetings with young people at a series of events in conjunction with the British Youth Council.

For the purpose of the review younger audiences were defined as 13-34 year olds. The Trust's previous review of children's services considered all services for those 13 and under and 34 is the top end of target audience for 大象传媒 Three.

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