§ Andy BurnhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to her answer of 31 March 2004,Official Report, column 1454W, on BBC (commercial advertising), how much the BBC spent in each of the last five years on (a) billboard advertising and (b) other commercial advertising. [168817]
§ Estelle Morris[holding answer 26 April 2004]: The cost of promoting BBC services is a matter for the BBC. However, the figures show the BBC's media spend over the last five years.
The BBC's total bought media spend for the last five years has been as follows:
£ million Of which: billboard advertising 2000 8.6 negligible 2001 9.6 negligible 2002 14.7 10.85 2003 13.8 11.7 2004 112.0 111.5 1Estimate I understand that the BBC made a significant change to its strategy in 2002 by developing a permanent holding of poster sites and switching much of its spending from other media, such as Press.
The BBC's spend has also of course risen significantly since 2002 in order to support the launches of its new digital TV and radio services and to promote digital take up in accordance with its commitments to the Secretary of State.