The BBC has revealed that the amount paid to its biggest stars has surged to a six-year high, as Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker topped the talent pay table once again.
The BBC’s annual report revealed that salaries for presenters earning more than £150,000 ($195,000) totaled £23.4M in the 12 months to the end of March 2023.
This was a 15% increase compared with last year’s pay of £20.2M and was at its highest level since 2017, when the BBC spent £28.6M on its best-known presenters.
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Lineker topped the ranking for the sixth consecutive year, with his salary remaining stable at £1.35M. Radio 2 DJ Zoe Ball was the best-paid female presenter, pocketing as much as £985,000.
In a year in which he anchored coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, Huw Edwards had a pay rise of at least £25,000. He took home a minimum of £435,000 in the year to March.
Total talent pay, the figure for all presenter salaries, rose by £10M to £139.8M — the highest since 2020. Talent headcount was 24,450, another three-year high.
The pay disclosures are far from a complete picture. They do not include the earnings stars make from commercial arm BBC Studios and independent producers.
For example, Graham Norton is one of the BBC’s biggest stars, but he does not appear on the list because his chat show is produced through So Television.
The BBC is facing growing criticism for allegedly hiding the salaries of its presenters in BBC Studios, with more production teams and hosts moving over to the commercial unit from public service operations.
Below is a ranking of the BBC’s five highest-paid presenters:
(1) Gary Lineker: £1.3M (2022: £1.3M)
(2) Zoe Ball: £980,000-£984,999 (2022: £980,000-£984,999)
(3) Alan Shearer: £445,000-£449,999 (2022: £450,000-£454,999)
(4) Huw Edwards: £435,000-£439,999 (2022: £410,000-£414,999)
(5) Fiona Bruce: £395,000-£399,999 (2022: £410,000-£414,999)
Elsewhere in the annual report, the BBC said it served 9 in 10 adults in UK each week and the corporation remains the most trusted source of news in the UK.
License fee revenue fell 1.6% to £3.7M. There were half a million more license fee refuseniks over the past year, with the number of license fees in force dropping to 24.4M.
BBC Director General Tim Davie said: “I am proud of the content we have delivered – the very best of the BBC – from royal programming to wonderful sporting moments and coverage of the Ukraine war. We have seen this again recently, with Eurovision, the Coronation and Glastonbury.
“It remains a period of change, financial pressures and great competition in the media market. Our task is not always easy and we have to make some difficult choices.
“But these are challenges we must embrace as we know that the BBC is needed now more than ever, in an age of polarisation and increasing disinformation.”
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