Media
BBC World Service hits record numbers
Published Monday, May 15 2006, 11:24 BST | By Matthew Houghton
The BBC has broken a record for audience figures for its World Service.
The broadcaster hit a mammoth 163 million audience per week, beating its previous record of 153 million listeners to its radio shows.
The rise has come despite the Beeb axing ten separate foreign language shows last year, mostly in Eastern Europe.
A BBC correspondent noted that the rise in audience figures was partly due to the change from old radio frequencies to FM and internet services.
He said that the figures were a "strong and welcome indication that we [the BBC] are not only strengthening our impact in priority areas but are flourishing in the multimedia age."
Areas showing particular increases in figures include Nigeria, Indonesia, Kenya, India and Nepal.
The broadcaster hit a mammoth 163 million audience per week, beating its previous record of 153 million listeners to its radio shows.
The rise has come despite the Beeb axing ten separate foreign language shows last year, mostly in Eastern Europe.
A BBC correspondent noted that the rise in audience figures was partly due to the change from old radio frequencies to FM and internet services.
He said that the figures were a "strong and welcome indication that we [the BBC] are not only strengthening our impact in priority areas but are flourishing in the multimedia age."
Areas showing particular increases in figures include Nigeria, Indonesia, Kenya, India and Nepal.
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