BBC Worldwide announces record profit

The record result marks a 10.3% increase from last year's US$231 million. The broadcaster says the improvement was driven primarily by its rising international creative exports.

A focus on exports saw international sales jump to 55.5 per cent of total headline sales.

Digital sales also took off, increasing to 8.1 per cent of net sales predominantly on the back of BBC Worldwide's online and mobile offerings. Its flagship online property BBC.com enjoyed a revenue rise of 113 per cent in the US alone. BBC is looking to roll out its global BBC iPlayer later this year.

John Smith, chief executive of BBC Worldwide, says the strong performance was the result of the company's efforts on five key strategic objectives: digital transformation; becoming more international; growing the scale of its TV channels; increased investment in content; and more direct connection with consumers.

Meanwhile, Robert Webb, chairman of BBC Worldwide noted, “BBC Worldwide operates as one of the engines of the whole UK creative economy and our record performance last year allowed us to deliver on our core aims. We reinvested US$290 million back into the (wider) BBC and also increased our support of the UK creative economy."