Distinctiveness – Unique market position

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

ABC Quality & Distinctiveness Surveys

2018-19: (July 2018, November 2018, March 2019)

2019-20 – (July 2019, November 2019, March 2020)

82%

84%

81%

Target met. The ABC will continue to focus on providing a differentiated content experience compared to other media organisations. This will include delivering content that reflects Australia today and tells distinctive stories.

Quality

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

ABC Quality & Distinctiveness Surveys

2018-19: (July 2018, November 2018, March 2019)

2019-20 – (July 2019, November 2019, March 2020)

80%

88%

N/A – new performance measure for 2019-20.

Target exceeded. It is critical that the ABC’s content meets expectations and audiences can derive value from any content they engage with. The ABC has seen an increase in quality perception scores over time and will continue to deliver on this important measure.

Supporting Australian Music

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

ABC Corporate Tracking study

72%

70%

N/A – new performance measure for 2019-20.

Target not met. Supporting Australian Music plays an integral part in delivering the ABC’s charter obligation of “Encouraging and Promoting Australian Performing Arts”. Music stations have specific Australian music programming targets to enable this, which were exceeded across all ABC Radio stations in 2019-20. Focus periods specifically promoted Australian music such as Australian Music month in November. In 2019-20, the ABC also achieved its highest ever recorded engagement with triple j’s Hottest 100, with 38% of the Australian adult population (6.7 million people) engaging with the countdown. 2019-20 has been a year where we have enhanced distribution of Australian music, with triple j, triple j unearthed and ABC Classic being added to the digital TV Footprint. The ABC plans to address this perception measure in the coming year by increasing the promotional work of these key activities and increasing communication of the ABC’s commitment to Australian music.

Editorial quality

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

Reviews commissioned or conducted by the ABC

Reviews undertaken and reports considered

ABC Coverage of the 2019 Federal Election

Review 18: 5.3 Opportunity to Respond

Review 19: Coarse Language in the Media

Review 20: 7.2 Audience advice/warnings

Target met. The ABC published four editorial reviews during the year. The Election Coverage Review Committee Report published in August 2019 summarising coverage performance during the 2019 federal election; two editorial standards compliance reviews were conducted based on analysis of complaints data for Editorial Standards 5.3 Opportunity to Respond and 7.2 Audience advice/warnings; and a study into the use of coarse language in the media was completed. Other internal reviews and editorial spot checks were conducted throughout the year. An external academic advisory group was commissioned to verify the review process.

Editorial Complaints management

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

ABC Audience and Consumer Affairs Data

Complaints investigated and outcomes reported

N/A – new measure for 2019-20

Not upheld

1,215

69.7%

Resolved

424

24.3%

Upheld

104

6.0%

Target met. The ABC has in place an independent complaints handling system which is transparent and responsive to concerns raised by audiences. This is an essential tool to maintaining and build the trust that is necessary for the ABC to fulfil its role as an independent, impartial and valued public broadcaster. During the year the majority of editorial complaint issues that were investigated by Audience and Consumer Affairs were not upheld (69.7%). Upheld cases reflect those where Audience and Consumer Affairs determined that ABC editorial standards had not been met. Resolved cases represent instances where the relevant content areas took prompt and appropriate action to remedy the cause of the complaint. (239 of these resolved complaints were in relation to one episode of Q+A: https://about.abc.net.au/complaints/qa-13/). Summaries of all complaint issues finalised as upheld or resolved were published on abc.net.au. In accordance with the ABC’s Complaint Handling Procedures, Audience and Consumer Affairs exercised its discretion to refer an additional 1,679 editorial complaints to content teams for direct response. A further 35 editorial complaints that did not require investigation were handled directly by Audience and Consumer Affairs.

ABC experience

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

ABC Corporate Tracking Study

48%

49%

49%

Target met. The ABC Experience measure is important in understanding the ABC’s progress against the Investing in Audience Strategy, which set out a priority to deliver ‘an outstanding audience experience’. The ABC will continue to prioritise its work to improve and evolve the user experience across all platforms.

Trusted source

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

ABC Corporate Tracking Study

81%

78%

81%

Target not met. An erosion of trust has been experienced across all media organisations in Australia and public broadcasters globally. This trend has impacted the ABC’s trust score however the ABC remains the most trusted media source in Australia. High levels of trust were evident through the 2019-20 bushfire season with independent research which showed that the ABC was the most used and trusted broadcast service information source for the Australian community during this period. Specifically, ABC News TV had a trust level of 98%, ABC News online of 97%, ABC TV of 97% and ABC Local Radio of 96%.* The ABC will continue its important work in providing information that the Australian public can trust.

Overall value* **

Program 1.1, Portfolio Budget Statements 2019-20, p77

ABC Corporate Tracking Study

82%

78%

82%

Target not met. The decline in perception of value was impacted by a 3% increase in respondents who ‘did not know’ whether the ABC provides a valuable service to the Australian community. This awareness gap is more present in younger Australians. Perceptions of value will be improved by increasing community awareness of the ABC and the range of platforms and services that we provide. This will be driven by the ABC’s recently launched ‘Five Year Plan’, which prioritises addressing audience gaps.

Digital Engagement

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

Google Analytics

10.5 million Average weekly users

24 minutes average time spent per user

14.3 million Average weekly users

28 minutes average time per user

N/A – new measure for 2019-20.

Targets exceeded. Average weekly users is a measure of the penetration of the ABC’s digital products. Strong performance was observed through the bushfire season and COVID-19 Pandemic, where news services grew significantly. The change in audience behaviours in response to COVID-19 also demonstrated strong growth in non-news platforms.

The average time spent per user is a measure of the engagement that a user has with the ABC’s digital products. The COVID-19 pandemic influenced audience time spent on digital platforms and showed growth in the use of Smart TV applications.

Audience – Reaching all Australians – Net weekly reach*

Program 1.1, Portfolio Budget Statements 2019-20, p77

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

OzTam(TV), GFK(Radio), ABC Corporate Tracking study (Digital)

70%**

67.6%

68.3%

Target not met. Net Weekly Reach is a measure of the total proportion of Australian adults who have watched, read or listened to ABC content across an average week. The fragmentation of the media landscape and launch of new global players into the Australian market has resulted in the erosion of broadcast television viewing. This has impacted the ABC’s net weekly reach with results showing 66.8% in August 2019 and 67.2% in December 2019. Following the bushfire season and COVID-19 pandemic coverage, net weekly reach increased to 68.6% in April 2020.

Digital reach (weekly)*

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

ABC Corporate Tracking Study

23%

31%

30%

Target exceeded. Digital reach on ABC-owned online platforms (website and applications) has seen improvement throughout the year and specifically during December and March, as the Australian bushfires and COVID-19 pandemic dominated national conversations.

Radio reach (weekly)*

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

GFK Radio Ratings

36.5%

36.4%

35.6%

Target not met. The ABC has experienced a decline in traditional platforms generally, however reach grew through the Bushfire Season and early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. GFK Ratings measurement ceased from April 2020 due to impacts from the COVID-19 Pandemic; results therefore reflect performance for the nine-month period.

Television reach (weekly)

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

OzTAM

47%

46%

47%

Target not met. Declines in metro television reach were expected as weekly audiences generally shift to digital on-demand platforms. This decline was slower than the 4% observed reduction across total television.

Access to analog radio

Program 1.2, Portfolio Budget Statements 2019-20, p78

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

BAI Communications data

Australian Bureau of Statistics data

Atleast 99%

99.66%

99.66%

Target met. The ABC’s coverage of Analog radio transmission services were unchanged during the year.

Access to digital radio*

Program 1.2, Portfolio Budget Statements 2019-20, p78

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

BAI Communications data

Australian Bureau of Statistics data

100%**

100%

100%

Target met. ABC delivers digital radio to audiences via three technologies: digital audio broadcasting plus (DAB+), radio on digital terrestrial television transmission services and via the VAST satellite service. For all areas that have no access to the DAB+ radio services, these are available via radio on television and VAST. ABC estimates that the total population of Australia able to receive ABC DAB+ services is 63.96%, with 24 services located across the eight capital cities, 98.6% of the population receive digital radio on 420 television transmission services. The remainder of the population have access via VAST.

Access to digital television*

Program 1.2, Portfolio Budget Statements 2019-20, p78

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

BAI Communications data

Australian Bureau of Statistics data

100%

100%

100%

Target met. ABC delivers digital television to audiences via two technologies: digital terrestrial transmission and via the VAST satellite service. For all areas that have no access to the digital terrestrial transmission services, these are available via VAST. ABC estimates that the total population able to receive ABC digital terrestrial transmission services is 98.6%, with 420 transmission services located across Australia. The remainder of the population has access via VAST.

Audience contacts – transmission issues

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

REMEDY and Google Analytics

Availability of reception support for audiences

Total number of emails received

786

1,087

Total number of letters received

11

2

Total number of telephone enquiries received

2,271

3,021

Total Number of ABC Help Centre reception FAQs page view

9,875

N/A*

Total number of ABC reception website page views

Target met. The reduction in enquiries and the increase in website page views is a continuation of the success achieved by overhauling the reception help website along with the introduction of ABC Help Centre to surface self-help information in issue-specific online articles.

Transmission performance

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

BAI Communications data

At least 99% for all services

99.72%

99.78%

Target met. This measure identifies that majority of audiences, for the majority of the year, received their ABC transmission services despite the impact of bushfires, major redevelopment works associated with the high powered FM transmitter replacement program, NBN, 4G and 5G mobile telecommunications network rollouts and addition of Southern Cross Broadcasting transmission services to BAI Communications shared infrastructure.

Operation of transmission facilities

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

BAI Communications data

100%

99.91%

100%

Target not met. The BAI Communications reported performance shows that overall ABC radio and television met its operational performance targets except for one digital radio infill transmission service in Darwin Northern Territory. This service was off-air for a substantial period due to failure of the BAI Communications program distribution service linking the main Darwin transmission services to the infill site. Service performance was rectified by repair of the damaged fibre optical cabling damaged after the initial commissioning of the transmission service.

ABC Classic

99.83

99.93

99.95

94.13

93.23

99.67

triple j

99.82

99.95

99.96

87.81

89.52

99.8

ABC Radio

99.79

99.87

99.85

93.83

92.83

99.8

ABC NEWS on radio

99.89

99.93

99.95

95.77

92.60

99.82

RN

99.74

99.82

99.80

92.97

92.10

99.75

Televsion

99.77

99.90

99.93

98.37

98.40

99.64

– Class A, B, and D

99.88

99.86

99.91

94.97

99.02

99.80

– Class E

NA

NA

NA

97.31

92.34

99.71

NSW/ACT

99.80

99.86

99.90

91.48

91.57

99.94

NT

99.71

99.81

99.74

96.48

95.57

99.88

Qld

99.76

99.86

99.85

94.23

94.25

99.89

SA

99.79

99.93

99.89

86.21

82.83

99.96

Tas

99.81

99.94

99.92

99.26

98.13

99.68

Vic

99.82

99.90

99.90

88.29

84.43

99.98

WA

99.75

99.85

99.81

97.48

95.64

99.96

NSW/ACT

99.78

99.93

99.96

98.49

98.76

99.62

NT

99.76

99.95

99.96

99.78

99.71

99.84

Qld

99.76

99.92

99.94

96.43

96.57

99.80

SA

99.77

99.92

99.96

99.78

99.86

99.88

Tas

99.76

99.85

99.88

99.73

99.77

99.77

Vic

99.77

99.84

99.91

99.68

98.19

99.71

WA

99.76

99.94

99.91

98.56

99.22

98.56

Employee Engagement

ABC Corporate Plan 2019-20

Qualtrics – Project Averages

Within moderate range

69%. Within moderate range (69% compared with Australian benchmark of 70%)

The 2018-19 engagement survey was deferred following the departure of the former Managing Director and former Chair in September 2018.

Target met. The ABC conducted an engagement survey in November 2019. The survey (administered by Qualtrics) used five questions to determine the overall engagement of the workforce. The engagement score was within the Australian benchmark moderate range of 70%. Engagement increased significantly from the employee survey conducted in 2017, which showed a 46% engagement score.

In addition, the survey showed that employees are proud to work for the ABC with a 91% favourable response, 11% higher than the comparable Australian benchmark.