BBC
World Service has global audience of 150 million listeners
At
least 150 million people around the world listen to BBC World Service
every week, according to new audience figures released today (Tuesday
16 April 2002).
It
remains the world’s best known and most listened to international
radio broadcaster. BBC World Service is the clear global leader,
significantly ahead of its nearest international broadcasting competitor,
Voice of America, who declare 91 million weekly listeners*.
Overall,
the 2002 global audience figure represents a fall of three million
(2 per cent) on last year’s record audience figure of 153 million,
largely due a 12 million fall in listening in India. Overall radio
listening in India has fallen dramatically in recent years. Only
one in four Indians now listen to radio regularly - half the number
of a decade ago.
The
BBC World Service attracted increases in audiences in Africa, Australia,
Bangladesh, Europe, the USA and Ukraine - particularly in areas
where the BBC World Service has been able to deliver improved audibility
of its 43 language services to listeners by FM broadcasts. New surveys
in Iran, Syria, Rwanda, Algeria, Burma and Guinea Republic also
showed significant audiences.
The
overwhelming majority of surveys in 2001 were conducted before the
events of September 11th. The BBC World Service expects to have
attracted significant new audiences and high listenership in Afghanistan,
Iraq and Somalia following expanded coverage in Pashto, Persian,
Arabic, Urdu and Somali. However, at present, it is not possible
to survey those countries.
Indirect
broadcasts
Nearly
30 per cent of BBC international radio audiences (44 million) now
listen through rebroadcasting partners. This is a jump of seven
million on last year’s figure and reflects the World Service’s
success in developing rebroadcasting partnerships over the last
few years. Nearly 2,000 stations around the world now broadcast
BBC World Service programming.
Audiences
in the USA via FM rebroadcasters are at their highest level ever
- up 25 per cent from 2.3 million to 2.9 million. The surveys also
show that 24 per cent of opinion formers in Boston, New York and
Washington listen to the World Service each week, up from 20 per
cent last year. Audiences in Australia nearly doubled to two million.
In both cases nearly all measured listening is through rebroadcasting
partners. Both were areas where direct short wave transmissions
were discontinued or reduced last year in response to changing audience
listening habits. Listeners can tune into an increasing number of
FM rebroadcasters, as well as listen by digital satellite and cable.
Direct
broadcasts
Short
and medium wave listenership is now 115 million - down nine million
from 124 million last year. The drop is largely due to the dramatic
fall in overall radio listening in India - where news and current
affairs are not yet permitted on the newly developing commercial
FM stations, short wave listening is quickly declining and television
growth has been rapid.
BBC
World Service Director Mark Byford said: "It’s been an
extraordinary year for the BBC World Service editorially, and challenging
in the context of highly competitive marketplaces.
"Our
strong editorial response to the events of September 11th and its
aftermath have been a magnificent testament to the firmness of our
public service values of accurate, impartial, editorially independent
journalism. We know our services have a great impact. Even in those
areas where we are not attracting mass listening we remain important
to key decision makers and opinion formers. We know we are highly
valued. Nowhere more so than in Afghanistan where we are unable
to carry out detailed audience research but we know listenership
is high."
Hamid
Karzai, the leader of the interim government of Afghanistan, has
highlighted the impact of the World Service across the country:
"The BBC World Service has been the main media outlet for the
Afghan people for many, many years. It’s a radio service that
almost all Afghans - who want to have news - listen to, especially
in Afghanistan. It has credibility. When I have been in the villages
of central Afghanistan, people are listening to it. When I’ve
been in Kandahar, people are listening to it... and in Herat and
Mazar-e-Sharif. It is the main source of information for Afghanistan."
Mark
Byford continues: "Media markets have become increasingly volatile
across the world. But we have been nimble in adapting to the rapid
pace of change. Audiences are changing their habits dramatically
in the face of increased competition, deregulation of markets, seismic
changes in technology and even greater listener choice.
"We
are continuing to make significant investment in upgrading transmitters
for those areas where shortwave listening will continue to be the
only viable means listeners will have to receive BBC services for
years to come. However the dramatic changes in India and Indonesia,
where short wave listening is rapidly declining, emphasises the
need for us to continue to be agile and invest more time and effort
in further FM expansion around the rest of the world."
He
says: "We are now reaping huge dividends in audience numbers
where we have expanded in FM offering greater audibility to listeners,
particularly in the capital cities and large conurbations, and developed
rebroadcasting partnerships. BBC World Service programmes are on
nearly 2,000 stations worldwide. We are now in 129 capital cities,
beating our target of 128. We hope to be in 135 - 70 per cent of
all capital cities - by 2003/4. The growth in this audience is a
clear vindication of that strategy. The potential for growth remains
strong."
Online
In
the year the BBC World Service won the prestigious Webby Award for
the world’s best radio web site; online usage - both text and
audio - also went up to record levels. Usage more than doubled year-on-year
from 33.6 million online page views to 76.9 million in December
2001 – an increase of 43.3 million in 12 months.
The
service, which includes both text and audio streaming of radio services
in all languages, increased well above comparable internet growth
rates. Year on year, the English
language site has increased page views by 84 per cent, usage
of BBCMundo.com
– the Spanish language site - nearly quadrupled, the Somali
language site nearly tripled, BBCRussian.com
nearly doubled while BBCArabic.com
– the Arabic language site - has gone up by nearly 40 per cent.
Mark
Byford said: "We have broken all our targets in online, achieving
growth rates well above industry norms. We were delighted to have
the quality of our site acknowledged by receiving the most prestigious
global online award – the Webby – for best radio site
in the world.
"We have exciting plans to continue to develop websites in
all 43 languages we broadcast. Sites in Hindi,
Urdu, Persian
and Portuguese
for South America are now fully updated around the clock, to
join those in English,
Arabic, Chinese,
Russian
and Spanish.
We will use them to increase our role as the world’s reference
point and global interactive hub for news and information to millions
of people around the globe," he says.
UK listening
There
are now 1.3 million listeners in the UK, despite only being available
in daytime hours on medium wave in the south east of England and
overnight on Radio 4, Radio Ulster and Radio Wales. It is not possible
to measure UK listening via channel 865 of Sky Digital satellite
or cable systems and digital radio.
"Communities
around the UK can now access BBC news about their region of origin
in 43 languages via the internet whether in Urdu, Hindi, Bengali,
Tamil, Greek, Chinese, Turkish, Somali, Persian, Arabic, the Balkan
languages and news from the Caribbean. We also produce a new service
for digital satellite television systems – BBC World Service
Extra - for those in the UK who speak the key languages of Afghanistan
and the surrounding region," he says.
Highlights
of the audience figures
BBC
World Service attracted the largest increases in Africa, the Middle
East, and Eurasia.
There
were gains in Tanzania (+3.6 million), Bangladesh and Germany (+1.5m),
Ukraine (+1.1m), Australia (+0.9m), Nigeria (+0.7m), France (+0.5)
and Mozambique (+0.4m).
New
surveys were carried out in Iran (+1.1m), Rwanda (+1.0m), Syria
(+0.8m), Algeria (+0.4m), Burma and Guinea Republic (+0.3m).
But
there was a big fall in India (-12.1m) where dramatic market changes
and the regulatory framework had a huge impact on overall radio
listening habits.
There
were also falls in Indonesia (-2.1m), Poland (-1.8m) and Russia
(-1.0m).
Surveys
The
new World Service global audience estimate is derived from a comprehensive
programme of independent audience research - the largest ever commissioned
by the World Service - and incorporates new data from 36 countries.
It includes data on people listening to World Service directly via
short wave, MW and FM or via local broadcasting partners on MW and
FM. The surveys are carried out by independent market research groups
and comply with international standards of audience research.
It
does not include estimates for countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq
and Somalia where market research cannot be carried out. The vast
majority of surveys were conducted before the international crisis
sparked by the attacks on the US on September 11th. Any variations
in figures that can be attributed to "crisis listening"
are not added to the global estimate.
Notes
to Editors
·
The BBC World Service’s global audience figures over the last
decade were 120 million in 1992, 124m (1993), 130m (1994), 133m
(1995), 140m (1996), 143m (1997), 138m (1998), 143m (1999), 151m
(2000) and 153m (2001).
·
BBC World Service is funded through Grant-in-Aid from the Foreign
Office. This year’s grant (2002/3) is £200.9 million.
·
The BBC World Service broadcasts in 43 languages including English.
The other languages are: Albanian, Arabic, Azeri, Bengali, Brazilian,
Bulgarian, Burmese, Cantonese, Croatian, Czech, French, Greek, Hausa,
Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Kazakh, Kinyarwanda/Kirundi, Kyrgyz,
Macedonian, Mandarin, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese,
Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovene, Somali, Spanish,
Swahili, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, and Vietnamese.
·
In the UK, World Service in English is available on 648 MW in south
eastern England. In addition, overnight on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio
Wales and BBC Ulster and via digital radio, digital satellite and
the internet. The English Network can be heard on the BBC’s
digital multiplex in the UK, or in Europe on the Astra satellite,
channel 865. BBC World Service Extra - a new radio service broadcasting
in the key languages of Afghanistan and the surrounding region -
is available on digital satellite channel 902.
·
Outside the UK, BBC World Service is available on short wave; on
FM in more than 129 capital cities; and selected programmes are
carried on almost 2,000 FM and MW radio stations around the world.
·
High quality reception of World Service programmes is available
via satellite in Europe and North America.
·
The BBC World Service website - www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice
- contains extensive, interactive news services available in English,
Arabic, Chinese Russian and Spanish, with audiostreaming available
in 43 languages. It also contains detailed information about World
Service broadcasts, schedules and frequencies in all languages.
* Source:
Voice of America website
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