The BBC Trust has said that the BBC needs to merge its Red Button and online services, as well as looking to improve navigation across the different parts of BBC Online, improving links and design consistency and better search functionality.
In terms of online and the Red Button, the review found that both services are popular, offer a wide variety of distinctive content that can be accessed on different platforms including computer, mobile device or television, and audiences trust their content. It was, however, noticed that there could be some improvement.
BBC Trustee Suzanna Taverne, who led the review, said: "In the five years since we first reviewed BBC Online, the digital world has advanced rapidly and people’s expectations of online services have changed. For example, in 2008 the iPlayer was just launching, whereas now audiences consider it a ‘world class’ part of the BBC’s online offer.
"Website users told us they value BBC Online and trust its news and sport above any other online provider. Its ability to provide easy access to exciting content is second to none, as it proved last summer with its hugely successful coverage of the Olympics.
"However, people also raised some areas where they would like to see improvement – such as the search and navigability functions, and the local news sites – so we have made recommendations to the BBC Executive that will help the Online offer to remain the ‘go-to’ website for millions of users each day."
The Trust has today launched a public consultation into its proposal to merge BBC Online and BBC Red Button under a single service licence.