BBC Worldwide's Digital Sales Up Over 56 Percent

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm responsible for the monetization of the British broadcaster’s international assets, has announced a 56.2 percent increase in digital sales for the year ending March 2009.

According to BBCW’s annual review, all areas of its digital business grew throughout the year, with BBC.com itself performing especially well. As a result, a total of £34.2 million was billed for the 2008/2009 period, up from £21.9 million for the previous 12 months. Other BBCW properties include Lonelyplanet.com, TopGear.com and GardenersWorld.com.

BBCW says the BBC.com site now attracts an average of 50 million uniques a month, and has serviced more than 400 advertiser clients including Rolex, Microsoft, Nokia, and British Airways since it launched in November 2007.

However, losses over the course of the year also doubled from £10.9 million to £22.8 million as a result of fruitless investment in project Kangaroo — the proposed commercial online video tie-up between the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4. The deal was ultimately blocked by the U.K. Competition Commission. Also, the company decided to invest more money into the BBC.com site than the partnership.

The report also references current video content partnerships, such as the one it extended with YouTube earlier this year.