In its six-year blueprint published in 2021, the BBC laid out ambitious objectives to transform the future portfolio of BBC local services, aiming to cover the stories that matter most to local audiences. However, this strategy has come under criticism from news media industry stakeholders, who have expressed concern about local news providers being unable to compete with the BBC. By collecting and analysing the text of over 140,000 local news articles, we sought to better understand differences in local news coverage provided by the BBC and the commercial sector.

Our analysis provided evidence supporting the view that content duplication between the BBC and commercial providers in online local news exists in a way that is consistent with multiple providers covering some of the same news events. The BBC rarely covers local news events not also reported on by commercial providers, but commercial providers report on a much larger number of local events than the BBC across a broad range of topics.

Our research contributes to the broader discussion around the role of the BBC in commercial markets and the long-term sustainability of local news outlets in an increasingly digital, post-COVID-19 world.

Find our full report, part of the BBC Mid-Term Review 2024 here.