Funding cuts mean BBC can’t compete with Netflix, says watchdog

The National Audit Office says the BBC ‘has significantly lower funding for developing its digital products’. Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

The BBC is struggling to compete with Netflix because it cannot afford the salaries of tech workers required to create online services, according to the UK’s public spending watchdog.

While commercial streaming companies can provide high-quality personalised recommendations to viewers, the BBC’s technology is lagging behind the competition. As a result, the corporation cannot tell the difference between a sport fan who is interested in football and one who is interested in cricket – meaning it struggles to serve up relevant content to users.