Toh, la radio internazionale la ascoltano in tanti

Ma guarda. Il World Service e gloi altri servizi internazionali della BBC hanno appena rilasciato i risultati dell'indagine sul bacino di utenza dei notiziari trasmessi nel mondo su tutti i canali presenziati (radio, tv satellitare e Internet). Il giornalismo radiofonico targato "Beeb" - che non viene trasmesso solo su onde corte ma anche attraverso una rete di emittenti FM e onde medie locali - ha guadagnato venti milioni di ascoltatori in più su base settimanale rispetto allo scorso anno, arrivando alla cifra di 183 milioni, un vero record. Buona parte di questo aumento è dovuto all'inclusione dei dati ricavati dall'analisi dell'audience in Congo Democratico e Afghanistan, dove la fame di notizie è molto elevata. Ma il dato è in controtendenza, soprattutto nei confronti delle strategie adottate dai broadcaster internazionali. I quali sembrano aver trovato nella soppressione delle trasmissioni una via più facile rispetto alla qualità e al solido marketing dei programmi (mi chiedo quanto sia costata la "sperimentazione" del DRM, audience complessiva 200 persone, e se questi soldi non risulterebbero meglio spesi se fossero investiti in qualcosa che la gente possa ascoltare davvero). Ma forse gli ascoltatori sono diventati obsoleti, come le onde corte.

BBC's global news audiences reach record 233m
21.05.2007

The BBC's combined international news services attracted a record global weekly audience of more than 233 million during 2006/7, according to independent surveys. The global audience figure for the combined services of BBC World Service radio, BBC World television and the BBC's international online news service bbcnews.com is up 23 million from 210 million last year. Many people used more than one service.
BBC World Service's weekly radio audience estimate is a record 183 million, up 20 million on last year. BBC World – the commercially-funded international English language news and information television channel – now has estimated record audiences of 76 million viewers a week, up from 65 million in 2005/6. The BBC's international-facing online news sites attracted a record 763 million page impressions in March 2007, up from 546 million in March 2006. There were a record 38.5 million unique online users across the globe during March 2007, up from 32.8 million a year ago.
BBC Global News Director Richard Sambrook said: "This is a strong and welcome indication that the BBC's news services are strengthening their impact with audiences around the globe in the highly competitive multimedia age. "People around the world are increasingly turning to the BBC when they need quality news and information that is independent and trusted." There were large BBC radio audience increases in Bangladesh – up 8.3 million. Increased survey coverage added 7.5 million to the estimate in Democratic Republic of Congo and 7.0 million in Afghanistan. Weekly audiences in radio markets in India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Rwanda all grew by a million or more during the year. BBC World saw substantial growth in audiences in Africa, Canada, Egypt, India, Pakistan and the USA.

BBC World Service broadcasts in 33 languages including English. The other languages are: Albanian, Arabic, Azeri, Bengali, Burmese, Caribbean-English, Cantonese, French for Africa, Hausa, Hindi, Indonesian, Kinyarwanda/Kirundi, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Mandarin, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Portuguese for Brazil, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, and Vietnamese.
In the UK, World Service in English is available on 648 MW in south eastern England. In addition, overnight on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radioi Ulster and via digital radio, digital satellite and the internet. The English Network can be heard on the BBC's digital multiplex in the UK, Freeview digital channel 80 or in Europe on the Astra satellite, channel 865. Outside the UK, BBC World Service is available on short wave; on FM in 152 capital cities; and selected programmes are carried on almost 2,000 FM and MW radio stations around the world.
BBC World television is the BBC's commercially-funded global 24-hour news and information channel. BBC World is available in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, and reaches more than 280 million households (147 million 24-hour homes) and more than 1.3 million hotel rooms. It is also available on 50 cruise ships, 37 airlines and 29 mobile phone platforms. The new World Service global audience estimate is derived from a comprehensive programme of independent audience research over a four year cycle. This year's figure incorporates new data from 24 countries – some 69 per cent of this year's audience (some 65 per cent of last year's audience). The BBC World audience figure is compiled from multiple surveys (syndicated, omnibus and specifically commissioned) across 100 countries. The surveys are carried out by independent market research groups and comply with international standards of audience research.