Big numbers

We've discussed the BBC's "Global Audience Measure" before. The new annual figure contains some quite remarkable increases. Quite remarkable.

It says it measures weekly reach for all BBC News services outside the UK and branded entertainment content on TV, BBC websites and social media pages for BBC Studios, and tries not to count people twice, if they've used more than one service. The 2019 total is 426m, up 50m (13%) on last year.

The Global Audience Measure (GAM) shows BBC News has an audience of 394m globally, a rise of 47m. The BBC World Service in English (largely radio), and 42 languages (multimedia), account for 319m of that figure. The BBC World News TV channel is up to 101m.

The audience in Kenya has more than doubled, from 6m to 15m, reaching 50 percent of the adult population. India, where BBC News puts out stuff in nine languages, has seen a rise of 20m to 50m to become the top overseas market for BBC News. The USA becomes the third largest market overall with 38m, up 5m. In Afghanistan, the BBC reaches 59 percent of the population. BBC News websites (World Service and bbc.com) have increased their combined reach by 6m to 51m globally.

Miracle ? "Syndication of BBC content via partner television and radio stations around the world, and distribution via digital platforms like YouTube and Facebook, now add up to over 60 percent of audience reach."

Money ? Remember the BBC promised to ring-fence £254m per year of licence-fee funds for the World Service, and the Foreign Office lumps in £85m p.a.