The BBC said today its combined international news services attracted a record global weekly audience of over 233 million during 2006/7, according to independent surveys. The global audience figure for the combined services of BBC World Service radio, BBC World television and the BBC’s international online news service bbcnews.com is up 23 million from 210 million last year. Many people used more than one service.
The figures break down as follows: BBC World Service’s weekly radio audience estimate is 183 million, up 20 million on last year. BBC World now has an estimated audience of 76 million viewers a week; up from 65 million in 2005/6.
The BBC’s international news websites attracted a record 763 million page impressions in March 2007, up from 546 million compared to 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 saw substantial growth in audiences in the Africa, Canada, Egypt, India, Pakistan and the United States. The BBC said it had compiled these figures from several independent sources, but did not name them individually.