{"id":33136,"date":"2018-07-10T08:26:21","date_gmt":"2018-07-10T12:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=33136"},"modified":"2018-07-10T08:26:21","modified_gmt":"2018-07-10T12:26:21","slug":"bbc-world-service-global-audience-up-shortwave-listeners-in-steep-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/07\/bbc-world-service-global-audience-up-shortwave-listeners-in-steep-decline\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC World Service: Global audience up, shortwave listeners in “steep decline”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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(Source: The BBC Media Centre<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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BBC\u2019S Global audience rises to 376m<\/h2>\n

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The BBC is reaching a record weekly audience of 376m people, new figures published today reveal.<\/p>\n

The figures – the Global Audience Measure (GAM) – show how many adults the BBC reached weekly with its news and entertainment content in the year 2017\/18.<\/p>\n

The BBC World Service, which has just undertaken its biggest expansion since the 1940s, has seen its audience increase by 10m, to 279m.
\nThe total global news audience has risen by a million, to 347m.<\/p>\n

The GAM shows the way people access their news is continuing to change around the world. With the increased availability of cheap smartphones around the world, audiences are continuing to switch to digital platforms for news. Overall, online news website audiences have grown by four million, with social media audiences up by nine million.<\/p>\n

The English language international website, BBC.com, continues to perform well even in competitive markets like the USA, adding two million weekly users this year.<\/p>\n

More people listen directly to World Service English via the internet than by any other method – a total of 27m. And World Service English podcasts now reach one million people every week.<\/p>\n

However, shortwave radio listening continues its steep decline, with shortwave audiences virtually disappearing in Pakistan, and down substantially in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Jamie Angus, Director of the BBC World Service Group, says: \u201cThis has been an exciting year for the BBC World Service, with the launch of 12 new services, new programming, and the opening of new and expanded bureaux across the world, so it is great to see international audiences continuing to turn to the BBC for independent and impartial news.<\/p>\n

The figures highlight not only the successes of our global news operation, but the challenges that lie ahead for us. We still need to grow the share of women engaging with our news services globally, and we need to ensure we have the right services to continue to attract young audiences.<\/p>\n

At a time when Britain is forging a new relationship with nations around the world, the BBC\u2019s global news services are more important than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The figures also show:<\/p>\n