The highest profile of these early products was the listings magazine Radio Times, but the net revenue gained from this in 1928 (£93,686, 10s, 1d) only equated to 10% of total BBC income.

BBC Publications, which produced magazines, books and other supplementary materials, had expanded rapidly in the late 1960s but still had difficulties with finances.

Instead, some changes to its remit, focus, structure and governance were made, e.g. that it would only publish titles in the UK linked to BBC programmes or key genres.

[7] In 2007, BBC Worldwide purchased a 75% stake in the travel guide publisher Lonely Planet,[8] acquiring the final 25% of the company in 2011.

[9] The acquisition was part of the BBC's strategy to grow its online portfolio and to increase its operations in Australia and the USA.

[10] In January 2009, it was announced that Ofcom had put forward the recommendation that Channel 4 merge with either the commercial network Five or BBC Worldwide.

Channel 4's preferred option of a partnership with the latter was confirmed by chief executive Andy Duncan, who added: "We're in discussions with BBC Worldwide at the moment and they're really very exciting.

[14] In December 2016, BBC Worldwide and ITV plc announced BritBox, an international subscription streaming brand focusing on British television.

[25] Historical price conversion as per RPI figures from "Office for National Statistics – Dataset selector".

In 2013, BBC Worldwide reorganised the company along geographical, rather than divisional, lines to better serve its audiences around the world and to position itself to take advantage of opportunities in high growth markets.

[29] It also exploits the formats of BBC programmes and alters them to be suitable for an international audience – an example is the exploitation of the Strictly Come Dancing brand to become Dancing with the Stars – maximising revenues by receiving a production fee from the local broadcaster as well as a sum from selling the initial re-versioning rights.

Some commercial rivals protest at the advantage the company has from being associated with and being able to exploit the programme catalogue and resources of the BBC to provide its goods and services.