BBC Global Reach Remains Strong with 450 Million Weekly Viewers

The BBC has announced its Global Audience Measurement (GAM) for 2024, revealing an impressive average weekly audience of 450 million people across its international platforms. This figure encompasses the combined reach of BBC News, BBC World Service, and BBC Studios, demonstrating remarkable resilience in the face of growing competition and investment from other news providers, including state-funded entities.

Despite the increasing challenges, the BBC continues to hold a leading position in terms of trust, reliability, and independence amongst international news providers. The BBC World Service, spanning 42 language services, reported an impressive audience of 320 million, up slightly from 318 million in 2023.

These strong figures can be attributed to the public's reliance on the BBC for trusted, impartial, and accurate news coverage of major events, including the recent Israel-Gaza conflict. Notably, the BBC News Arabic service witnessed a 9% increase in audience reach, reaching 35 million viewers weekly. The BBC's emergency radio service in Gaza, launched in November 2023 to provide vital information to those living in the region amid the conflict, also contributed significantly to the overall audience figure.

The BBC World Service English platform saw a growth of 3 million listeners, reaching a total of 84 million people each week. This growth includes new audiences reported from Taiwan and the Philippines for the first time.

These robust results come against a backdrop of a broader trend in declining media consumption across TV and radio, and a growing trend of social media companies deprioritizing news content on their platforms. Despite these challenges, the relaunched BBC News channel has enjoyed a highly successful first year of operation, attracting 112 million viewers weekly outside of the UK.

Jonathan Munro, Deputy CEO of BBC News, expressed pride in the achievements of the international teams, highlighting their dedication to delivering exceptional journalism to audiences worldwide. He acknowledged the challenges facing the BBC World Service, but emphasized the organization's position of strength and unwavering commitment to providing fearless and fair reporting.

Among the BBC's language services, BBC News Hindi maintains the largest audience reach, followed by BBC News Arabic and BBC News Swahili, which saw a notable 16% increase in its audience reach, reaching 29.7 million viewers weekly.

The Global Audience Measure is an annual assessment that tracks the weekly consumption of BBC content across all international services, excluding content aimed at the UK market. It encompasses all platforms, including TV, radio, websites, and social media.

These figures underscore the BBC's continued commitment to delivering trusted and reliable news to a global audience, demonstrating its enduring relevance in an ever-evolving media landscape.