The BBC’s new director-general has faced criticism after delivering what staff described as a “cringeworthy” David Brent-style pep talk, urging employees to be “more Elvis”.
Insiders branded Matt Brittin “tone-deaf” over the remark, made as the BBC advances plans to cut up to 2,000 jobs. BBC Three and BBC Scotland could also be taken off air and moved online as part of a drive to save £500million.
Mr Brittin told staff that he wanted the broadcaster to “be more Elvis”, a reference to the singer’s lyric “a little less conversation, a little more action”, as employees face the prospect of widespread redundancies.
An audio recording has revealed that the former Google chief executive made the comment during an online staff meeting. He was presenting potential new iPlayer features in an apparent attempt to boost morale.
During the call, Mr Brittin, 58, acknowledged that the BBC was “going to be smaller”, but argued that it could achieve greater impact by becoming “a bit more Elvis – a little less conversation, a little more action”.
He told employees: “I’d like us to celebrate activity less and outcomes more. And getting faster to outcomes that make a difference to an audience.
“Not [just], ‘We did this great marketing campaign’ but, actually, ‘it drove up watch time usage and active accounts’ – right? Or ‘we did this piece of journalism and it changed the law, and it landed with these audiences’.”
According to the recording, obtained by Deadline, he also said the BBC needed to rethink fundamentally how it served audiences online. He urged the corporation to recognise that digital, rather than traditional broadcasting, “can be flagship”, while accepting that it was acceptable to “experiment and fail”.
BBC director-general Matt Brittin has told employees he wants the broadcaster to “be more Elvis” – implying “a little less conversation, a little more action” – as the corporation prepares for job cuts
BBC Scotland is expected to move online after performing poorly, as the corporation seeks to save £500million over the next three years
BBC Three, which has been home to popular programmes including Gavin And Stacey, Normal People and Killing Eve, is also expected to be axed. Pictured: Gavin And Stacey stars Ruth Jones and James Corden
Mr Brittin appeared to present iPlayer as central to the BBC’s future. During the meeting, staff were shown a version of the platform featuring a new artificial intelligence tool called Iggy.
The feature will allow users to request similar programmes or find shows in other languages. Mr Brittin said he hoped it would prompt the public to say: “iPlayer and chill”.
The phrase is likely to have raised eyebrows among those listening, as it echoes “Netflix and chill” – an expression that has become a widely used euphemism for casual sex.
One source compared Mr Brittin with Brent, the hapless manager played by Ricky Gervais in the sitcom The Office. Speaking to the Mail, the source said: “It’s completely tone-deaf to use meaningless and utterly cringeworthy ‘buzzwords’ to try to rally support for the future at the BBC when there won’t be one for many soon.”
The comments come as hundreds of BBC jobs remain at risk and staff wait anxiously to learn whether BBC Three and BBC Scotland will be shut down.
Mr Brittin’s proposals were met with hostility from increasingly frustrated employees, who challenged him over the corporation’s continuing job cuts.
The BBC is continuing to set out details of a plan to eliminate as many as 2,000 roles in an effort to save £500million.
Several staff members on the call alleged that executives were being protected while junior employees bore the brunt of the reductions.
One employee described the BBC as “an incredibly top-heavy organisation” and asked whether senior management would be affected by the redundancies, before adding: “All the ‘doers’ are getting cut.”
‘I don’t want to hear about savings when bosses get huge salaries,’ another participant argued.
Rhodri Talfan Davies, the deputy director general, said senior roles would also be affected by the staffing cuts.
‘We are expecting changes at all levels of the organisation,’ he said. ‘So there isn’t a cohort of senior leaders that are excluded from this process.
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‘I think when we look back at the changes that have been introduced, you’ll probably see that it’s at the most senior levels that some of the steeper reductions have happened.’
More announcements on cuts are due to come in the next few days.
Axing BBC Three and BBC Scotland – which have been performing badly – is expected to be the next move of the corporation’s plan to save money.
It will no doubt be a major blow to audiences as BBC Three is home to beloved shows such as lockdown hit Normal People, Ruth Jones and James Corden’s comedy series Gavin And Stacey, and Killing Eve.
The channel’s highest-rating show this week was Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over which, despite being broadcast in a primetime slot, netted just 74,000 viewers.
Cuts are closing in fast on BBC Three as it was announced last month that financial difficulties were forcing the channel to cancel RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
It’s an even more abysmal picture at BBC Scotland, launched in 2019, after the BBC’s latest annual report in March revealed just 12 per cent of people in the country watched the channel live.
It has received up to £250million in funding since its launch but has failed to attract large audiences.
Its flagship news programme, The Nine, was scrapped two years ago after episodes drew as few as 1,700 viewers.
In June, bosses announced it was cutting 60 jobs in Scotland to save £10million.
Mr Brittin, who was named director general in May after Tim Davie stepped down, has long preached that linear TV and radio services may have to shut as audiences choose digital.
Rumours began to swirl about BBC Three and BBC Scotland when an email was sent last week from the director of iPlayer and Channels division, Dan McGolpin, calling for expressions of interest across the department in taking voluntary redundancy.
He said the plan was to ‘mitigate the number of [enforced] redundancies’ including sounding out staff interest about job-sharing arrangements, a reduction in hours, and ‘relocating to another BBC base across the UK’.
Insiders at the Beeb have revealed to the Daily Mail that staffers at Radio 1 and Radio 2 are also bracing themselves for devastating job losses expected shortly.
A source said: ‘Morale is very very low across R1 and R2 [Radio 1 and Radio 2]. People are fearful they are going to lose their jobs today.
‘It’s set to be an absolute bloodbath, with talk of studio managers being cut from Radio 2, with presenters having to do the desk themselves.
‘And over at Radio 1 it’s the assistant producers who are facing the axe because the shows are going to be so simplified, they won’t need them. It’s abysmal.’
Radio 4 has already faced a round of redundancies in June as six shows, including the World Tonight and the Midnight News, are being cancelled from early next year.
Its flagship show, The Today Programme, reduced its permanent presenters from five to four last month, and only one anchor presents on Saturdays.
Elsewhere in television, the BBC has been seemingly ruthless in its recent spate of cancellations in a bid to meet its savings target of £500million in the next three years.
BBC Sport is cutting 41 roles and has scrapped its lunchtime and overnight bulletins, in an attempt to make a saving of £2,6million.
Fans of Winterwatch were left devastated when the programme was scrapped this year after a 14-year run, similarly comedy show Live at the Apollo which has been axed after 22 years.
Light entertainment shows Blankety Blank and Celebrity Mastermind have also been cancelled, leaving producers and showrunners fearful of what will be next.