THE BBC has cut the amount it spends on original Scottish programming by more than 10 per cent, according to a new report from the UK’s media regulator.
The Ofcom review, published on Wednesday, looks at the media landscape in Scotland, examining how people access information and entertainment through mediums such as TV broadcasts, streaming services, and online news sites.
Here are five of the key things we learned from Ofcom's Media Nations Scotland 2026 report.
BBC has led cuts in Scottish public service broadcasting
In 2025, the Ofcom report said, the amount spent on public service broadcasting (PSB) in Scotland decreased to £68.8 million, from £76.1m in 2024, a decline of 9.6%.
The £68.8m spent on PSB in Scotland in 2025 is the lowest of the time series in the report (2019-2025), except for the pandemic year of 2020 (when £57.9m was spent). In 2019, £80.6m was spent on PSB in Scotland, 17.2% higher than in 2025.
The totals for PSB in Scotland take in spending both by the BBC and Channel 3 services STV and ITV1. However, the decline from 2024 is entirely down to the BBC, with the Channel 3 services boosting their spending by a modest 1% to £10.3m.
The BBC, in contrast, cut the amount spent on first-run programming for viewers in Scotland by £7.5m (or 11.4%) to £58.4m.
The Ofcom report said: “Alongside 2024 being a General Election year, resulting in a lower news spend figure for 2025, other factors included a shift in BBC spending from linear services to online, reflecting changing audience behaviour, and some key 2024 titles (including Dinosaur, Only Child and Granite Harbour) not due to return until 2026.”
BBC ALBA, the Gaelic-language channel, also saw cuts to programming spend, with the Ofcom report noting that £17.7m had been spent in 2025, a decrease of £1.7m (8.8%) compared to 2024.
This decrease in spend was accompanied by a sharper decline in first-run hours (14.6%), from 638 in 2024 to 545 in 2025.
However, across all PSBs in 2025 (including Channels 4 and 5 as well) 7.4% of qualifying first-run network spend was on programmes allocated to Scotland, alongside 9.3% of qualifying hours.
Spend increased slightly from 6.7% in 2024, while the proportion of hours increased by 3.7 points year on year.
BBC’s first-run output in Scotland hits lowest level since launch of BBC Scotland channel
In 2025, first-run BBC output in Scotland fell by 88 hours to 1124 hours, Ofcom reported. This represented a decrease of 7.3% and was “the lowest annual total since the BBC Scotland channel launched in 2019”.
The largest reduction was in news output, which fell by 133 hours to 494 hours (down 21.2%).
Ofcoms said this decline “reflects several factors, including the absence of the previous year’s General Election coverage and the end of The Nine on BBC Scotland, which was replaced by Reporting Scotland: News at Seven”.
Despite the fall, news still accounted for 44% of the BBC’s first-run hours in Scotland in 2025.
In contrast, first-run current affairs output “more than doubled, increasing by 74 hours to 133 hours”. This marks the highest annual total for the genre since 2015 (199 hours), with growth primarily by the launch of BBC Scotland’s Scotcast, which alone contributed over 84 hours in 2025.
BBC ties with YouTube for share of total video viewing
In Scotland in 2025, the BBC accounted for 16% of all in-home video viewing across all devices. This was the same as YouTube, which also accounted for 16%.
The BBC’s share was split between 12% of linear TV, and 4% of broadcast video on demand (BVoD).
Elsewhere, STV accounted for 11% of all in-home video viewing (10% linear TV and 1% BVoD), and Channel 4 and Sky tied on 6%.
Among streaming services, Netflix was top on 9%, while Disney and Prime Video tied on 3%. TikTok was at 4%.
Broadcast TV reach in Scotland declined in 2025, and is the lowest of all UK nations
The average weekly reach of broadcaster TV in Scotland (which is measured by the percentage of all individuals aged four or older watching 15 consecutive minutes or more in an average week) declined by four points in 2025 to 68%.
The Ofcom report states: “This represents one of the steepest declines across the nations, just behind Northern Ireland, and is higher than the UK average decline of three percentage points.
“Audiences in Scotland have consistently recorded the lowest reach among the devolved nations since 2023, and the level is now below the UK average of 70%.” Wales’s reach was 74%, and Northern Ireland’s 72%.
The BBC specifically recorded a 30% broadcast audience share in Scotland, below the UK average of 34% and lower than the corresponding shares recorded in both England and Wales.
STV and ITV channels accounted for 21% of broadcast viewing in Scotland, matching the UK average.
Where people saw information about the 2026 Holyrood elections
In Scotland, 77% of people aware of the Scottish Parliament elections said they had seen information about them on political flyers. This far outstripped any other medium, with online political adverts in second place on 33%.
Next, the BBC and STV main news shows both polled at 31%, while BBC Reporting Scotland was at 28%.
Just 17% of Scottish people aware of the Holyrood elections said they had seen information about it on social media, while 16% said BBC News online, and 15% said talking to friends and family.
Scotland had the highest proportion of people who said they had seen information about the elections in a newspaper (17% compared to a 13% UK average), as well as on TV (64% vs a 62% UK average) and online (34% compared to a 33% UK average).
