BBC pays Google to top search results

Wednesday 16 September 2009 | By Heidi Scott, Gosh! Media Copywriter

The BBC found itself at the centre of a whirlwind of controversy this week when the Mail on Sunday revealed that the corporation has been paying US search giant Google for the right to use key words and phrases that put its news at the top of results lists.

The startling facts came to light when journalists found that the Beeb had paid for keyword advertising around the Barclaycard Mercury Prize – won by Speech Debelle for her album Speech Therapy – driving traffic towards its own news coverage of the awards.

The corporation defended its policy, explaining that it finances the deals by using part of its £100 million marketing spend. In a statement, the BBC said, "Promoting content like the Mercury Prize online is an effective way to inform the licence fee payers who will want to watch it or read about it. The BBC has an annual budget for marketing and value for money is at the heart of how decisions are made about spending it." The corporation – which receives a guaranteed £3.5 billion each year in licence fee income – declined to say how long it had been using its marketing budget to boost its on-line presence.

The revelations have angered many commercial rivals, who are struggling in today's economic climate, as well as those who believe that the Beeb has too much power. James Murdoch – Chairman of News International, which owns The Times, The Sunday Times and most of BSkyB – recently went on record as saying that the BBC's influence in broadcasting was "chilling".

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