BBC’s Global News Audiences Reach Record 233 Million

LONDON, May 21: The BBC’s combined international news
services attracted a record global weekly audience of more than 233 million
during 2006-2007, an increase of 23 million from the previous year.

The global figures include the combined news services of BBC
World Service radio, BBC World television and the BBC’s international online
news service bbcnews.com. BBC World
television now has an estimated record audience of 76 million viewers a week,
which is up from 65 million in 2005-2006. BBC World saw substantial growth in
audiences in the Africa, Canada, Egypt, India, Pakistan and the U.S.

For the BBC’s international online news sites, there were a
record 763 million page impressions in March 2007, up from 546 million in March
2006. There were a record 38.5 million unique online users across the globe
during March 2007, up from 32.8 million a year ago. BBC World Service’s weekly
radio audience is estimated at a record 183 million, up 20 million from
2005-2006.

BBC Global News director Richard Sambrook commented: “This
is a strong and welcome indication that the BBC’s news services are
strengthening their impact with audiences around the globe in the highly
competitive multimedia age. People around the world are increasingly turning to
the BBC when they need quality news and information that is independent and
trusted.”