News
The Media Operations System blog contains tips and advice on the various tools within the system as well as wider advice about radio stations.
Radio and TV move out of London
Posted: 27th December 2023
New data released by Ofcom shows that more and more TV and radio jobs are now based outside of the capital
Each year Ofcom collects data from TV and radio broadcasters on the make-up of their workforces. These reports set out our findings on how the industry is doing.
Data from the UK's broadcasters, which includes the BBC, Sky and Global, shows that almost half (44%) of TV employees in the UK and over half (54%) of radio employees are now based outside London.
One in six (17%) broadcasting employees are based in the north of England.
Ofcom's seventh annual equity, diversity and inclusion in broadcasting report also shows that women, disabled workers and people from minority ethnic backgrounds are continuing to leave the industry in disproportionate numbers.
Women and people from minority ethnic groups are well represented in broadcasting as a whole. However, this is not the case at senior levels, where the numbers of women (TV 42%, radio 36%) and people from minority ethnic groups (TV 13%, radio 7%) are below the working population averages of 48% and 14% respectively.
Despite recruiting higher proportions of people from underrepresented groups, broadcasters continue to struggle to retain these staff, who are disproportionately likely to leave their jobs.
Employees with disabilities are still underrepresented at all job levels across the industry. At just 10% in TV and 8% in radio, both are well below the UK average of 16%. At senior levels, people with disabilities make up just 8% of senior managers in both TV and radio.
People from working-class backgrounds are also underrepresented in the whole broadcasting sector. Across TV and radio, just over a quarter (28%) of employees are from a working-class background, below the population average of four in ten (39%).
While many broadcasters have a wide range of initiatives to support diversity across their organisations, Ofcom has warned broadcasters that without ample influence from senior leadership, it is harder for them to genuinely drive meaningful change and a lack of diversity at senior levels may also compound this.
Tags: Ofcom | TV | Radio | Diversity
View other news stories
