[Swprograms] More BBC News - BBC is Iraq's biggest broadcaster

["Ulis Fleming" <ulis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3825701.stm

BBC is Iraq's biggest broadcaster 

BBC World Service is the biggest broadcaster in Iraq and Afghanistan, audience figures show. 
Latest figures, released on Monday, showed a 60% weekly reach in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul. 

And in Iraq, the launch of FM broadcasts in Baghdad, Basra and other major cities gained a weekly audience of 1.8 million. 

Globally, there were 146m weekly World Service listeners in 2004, down from 150m in 2003. 

Short wave decline 

BBC World Service attributed the global audience decline to a significant drop in short wave radio listening year-on-year, which has been partly offset by a rise in FM audiences. 

"Short wave listening is in long-term decline as audiences demand better audibility," BBC World Service's Acting Director Nigel Chapman said. 

"It is sometimes difficult to find suitable FM partners in some countries or to overcome regulatory obstacles, like bans on international news broadcasting on local FMs," he added. 


BBC WORLD SERVICE 
Available on FM in 139 capital cities 
Global English language audience: 45 million 
Half total audience comes from Africa and Middle East 
In Ghana, BBC is the country's leading station 
In Tanzania, 6 out of 10 people are regular listeners 
US audience increased from 3.9m to record 4.7m 
One in five opinion formers in New York and Washington listen each week 
In the UK, 1.3m are regular listeners 
Significant gains in Uganda, Egypt, Bolivia and Turkey 
Significant losses in Western Europe, Saudi Arabia, India, Bangladesh and Russia 
Source: BBC World Service 
Despite the decline, the World Service still has about 50% more listeners than comparable broadcasters. 

A selection of 16 surveys from key markets showed that BBC World Service was the most trusted and objective international broadcaster. 

Rapid online increase 

A survey earlier this year of the audience in Iraq provisionally indicated an increased audience of 3.3m in the country, and revealed that one in four people listen to the BBC World Service in Baghdad. 

"Taken as a whole, the use of the BBC World Service - both on radio and online - remains broadly constant," said Nigel Chapman. 

The service has extended its reach with rapid growth in online usage, particularly among younger audiences. 

Monthly page impressions rose from 228m in March 2003 - a high figure due to the Iraq war - to a record 279m a year later. 

This equates to over 16m individual monthly users, many of them young people who would not be attracted to short wave listening. 

It also represents a doubling of unique users from February 2003, when the figure stood at 8.5m monthly users. 


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Ulis R. Fleming 
Radio Amateur: K3LU (ex: WB3LUI & TI5NW) 
Home Page:  http://www.radiointel.com 
Maryland USA 
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