BBC Reports Weekly Global Audience of 308 Million

LONDON: The combined reach of international BBC content, both news and entertainment, for the 2014-15 year is a weekly global audience of 308 million people.

The figures—the BBC Global Audience Measure (GAM)—reveal that the BBC’s weekly global news audience, which is measured each year, has increased by 18 million people, or 7 percent since last year, to a record-breaking 283 million. This means that one in every 16 adults around the world uses BBC News. For the first time, television (148 million) overtook radio (133 million) as the most popular platform for BBC international news, and it is also the first time since the BBC tracked audiences for all three platforms—radio, TV and online (55 million)—in English and 28 other languages—that they’ve all grown in the same year.

In 2013, Tony Hall, director-general of the BBC, set a target of 500 million for the BBC’s global reach for 2022.

Tim Davie, the director of global and CEO of BBC Worldwide, said: “Today’s audience numbers show the global reach of the BBC to be strong and growing. The consumption of branded BBC services across TV, radio and digital platforms speaks to the international appetite for premium content across all the genres for which we are best known—primarily news, but increasingly for drama, factual and entertainment.

“Having a robust but prudent measurement system in place also helps increase our understanding of our audiences, enabling us to serve them to the very best of our ability in the future.”