BBC weekly global audience hits record high


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Editor

| 01 May 2016




Figures released by the BBC Global Audience Measure (GAM) have shown that the UK broadcaster has reached a record weekly audience of 348 million people worldwide.



BBC WW 1 May 2016This represents a 13% year-on-year increase for the combined measured reach of international content, both news and entertainment, for the year 2015/16.

Drilling deeper, the figures show that the BBC’s weekly global news audience has increased by 38 million people annually, up 13%, to a total of 320 million. For the second year running, television, with an audience of 162 million, is a bigger platform than radio (147 million), for the BBC’s international news services. All platforms have grown since last year – television, radio and digital combined boast an increase of 80 million.

The BBC World Service saw its audience increase to 246 million, from 210 million the year before. This growth was largely driven by new TV news bulletins in languages other than English. BBC Global News, which comprises BBC World News and bbc.com, has seen its audience grow to 108 million.

The 10 markets for BBC’s international news services are the US with 35 million, or 43 million when including BBC Worldwide; Nigeria (35 million); India (23 million); Pakistan (13 million); Iran (12 million); Egypt (11 million); Tanzania (10 million); digital-only Brazil (8 million); Afghanistan (7 million); Bangladesh (6 million).

In total, 152 million people are accessing BBC news in English; 201 million in another language. The audience for non-English language TV was 91 million.

“These are fantastic results which show the BBC going from strength to strength around the world and demonstrate the global appetite for accurate, impartial news,” said Francesca Unsworth, director of BBC World Service Group. “We’re about to begin the biggest expansion of the World Service since the 1940s… This will ensure we reach more people than ever, especially in countries where media freedom is under threat.”