Governors’ review 
of services – BBC World 
Service & Global News 

Overview 

The BBC’s Global News division brings together BBC World 
Service radio, BBC World television, the BBC’s international-
facing online news services and BBC Monitoring. 

This has been a year of great change in many parts of the 
division – change driven by the pressing need to respond 
rapidly and imaginatively to major shifts in technology, 
audience and geopolitics.This has particularly affected the 
World Service, which has undertaken one of the biggest 
transformations in its history.We are encouraged that, 
despite these upheavals, audiences to the division’s news 
services have reached record levels. 

The Global News division has produced thoughtful and 
accurate reporting and analysis of the major news stories 
of the year and created extra impact by using its three 
media to develop a single news theme in a coordinated way. 

The Governors are advised independently by the BBC World 
Service and Global News Consultative Group.Their report 
is on page 62. 

BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 50 

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The best global news coverage: the aftermath 
of Hurricane Katrina – audiences worldwide turn 
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Global News division 

Audiences for the BBC’s Global News 
services are rising despite increasing global 
competition. Record figures for reach have 
been recorded by the three services – BBC 
World Service radio,BBC World television, 
and the BBC’s international-facing online 
news services. Independent surveys indicate 
that the total tri-media weekly reach is 
above 210 million, with some people using 
more than one service.This is despite the 
loss of more than 4 million listeners as a 
result of the closure of ten World Service 
language services. 

We are encouraged that the BBC’s 
reputation for trust and objectivity remains 
strong.According to independent surveys, 
the BBC outperformed its international 
competitors in terms of audience 
perceptions of trust and objectivity in 
almost all major markets.The exception 
was Egypt where CNNI was ahead on 
objectivity among opinion formers. 

The division operates in an increasingly 
challenging environment reflecting rapid 
changes in audience expectations, in 
technology, and in the global social and 
political landscape.The division has 
responded by developing a five-year 
strategy.This includes a searching review 
to ensure that its services are structured 
to provide the optimum response to 
audience need, especially in the area of 
on-demand services, and an examination 
of the portfolio of language services. 
We look forward to considering the 
divisional strategy later this year. 


BBCUrdu.com 

Providing a platform: the BBC Urdu-language 
website received many emails following the 
earthquake in Kashmir, many from people who had 
lived through the disaster 


BBC World Service 

BBC World Service’s weekly global 
audience estimate, based on independent 
surveys, reached 163 million – 10 million 
more than the previous high in 2001. 
There were strong rises in key African 
markets including Nigeria, up 3.6 million 
to 23.8 million;Tanzania, up 2.7 million to 

12.9 million; and Kenya, up 1.5 million to 
6 million. Audiences also grew significantly 
in Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka, although 
they fell back in Bangladesh and Pakistan, 
reflecting the continuing growth of 
television there.The overall figure includes 
the results of the first national survey in 
Burma, which gave the BBC a weekly reach 
of 23.1% with 7.1 million listeners, and 
increased survey coverage in Nepal, adding 
2.6 million listeners this year. 
Short-wave audiences still account for two 
out of three BBC World Service listeners, 
but audibility on FM is crucial in urban 
areas where competition from local and 
national stations is most intense. BBC 
World Service’s long-term strategy to 
invest in this area is paying off: total FM 
audiences grew by 12 million. BBC World 
Service is now available in 150 capital cities 
on FM, up from 144 in 2004. 

BBC World Service announced proposals 
for radical change during the year.These 
include the launch of an Arabic language 
television service in 2007.There were also 
proposals to increase investment in on-
demand new media services, FM radio 
distribution, overseas news bureaux and 
more effective marketing.These plans will 
be funded partly from efficiency savings. 
BBC World Service delivered its agreed 

163 

million


listeners to BBC World Service in an 
average week in 2005/2006 

£7.1million efficiency savings for the year 
by implementing new working practices 
and making savings in distribution and 
transmission. Additional savings will be 
found from English programmes and 
business support areas. 

But these efficiency savings are not enough 
to fund the strategic plan. BBC World 
Service took the difficult decision to close 
services in ten languages – Bulgarian, 
Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, 
Polish,Slovak,Slovene and Thai.The 
reasoning included geopolitical change 
(which has weakened the justification for 
some European language services), and the 
relatively low impact of the BBC services in 
the Kazakh and Thai languages. 

We supported these sweeping changes 
as the appropriate response to the great 
challenges faced by the World Service and 
they were approved by the Foreign and 
Commonwealth Office.The closure of 
the language services has meant personal 
disruption for many individuals.We sincerely 
thank the staff of those services, past and 
present, for their contribution to creating 
and maintaining the BBC’s formidable 
international reputation. 

In some areas, BBC World Service 
broadcasters have faced severe difficulties. 
Reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan remains 
challenging. Central Asia has become 
increasingly volatile. In Uzbekistan some BBC 
operations were closed. Pakistan took BBC 
Urdu off FM partner stations after the South 
Asian earthquake, although a reduced 
service has now been resumed. During 
the disturbances in Nepal the authorities 
stopped FM partner stations broadcasting 
BBC programmes for a time. 

BBC World Service publishes its own 
annual review which is available online at 
bbc.co.uk/worldservice/us/annual_review. 

BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 51 

Governors’ review 
of services – BBC World 
Service & Global News 

BBC international-facing online news sites 

Usage of the BBC’s international-facing 
news sites has shown significant increases. 

The sites attracted a record 499 million page 
impressions a month in March 2006 compared 
to 324 million page impressions in March 
2005.This is a rise of 54% over the year. 

The sites now attract 32.8 million unique 
users each month, up from around 21 
million unique monthly users a year ago. 

Investment in interactive technology made 
it possible to process much higher volumes 
of traffic during periods of intense interest, 
such as the controversy over publication of 
cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. 

Interactivity is now a key part of many 
programmes. In many African countries, 
where the use of mobile phones is growing 
rapidly and texting is relatively cheap, 
there is keen interest in taking part in long 
established output such as Network Africa 
and Focus On Africa. New interactive 
programmes and online sites, such as World 
Have Your Say and Africa Have Your Say, 
were launched this year.The programmes 
are part of a new generation of interactive 
programming, promoting a global 
conversation between people of different 
cultures, languages and backgrounds. 
Dialogue with audiences is also giving 
news teams an early warning of issues 
that may turn into major news stories. 

The new daily bi-media programme in 
Spanish, BBC Enlace, produced from the 
Miami bureau, shows how interactive 
programming is deepening the relationship 
with both radio and online audiences. 
By the end of the year over 30 FM partner 
stations were taking the programme 
whose topics – from teenage pregnancy 
to urban insecurity – are proposed by 
online users. 


Newshour 

Delivering global news to international audiences: 
George Alagiah hosts an hour-long weekday news 
programme for BBC World.Target audiences 
include the USA and Asia 

BBCUrdu.com received more than 4,000 
emails following the Kashmir earthquake. 
These included numerous eyewitness 
accounts and videos of the quake. 
The international-facing site also received a 
sharp rise in the amount of user-generated 
content. It organised a ‘laptop link-up’ from 
Muzaffarabad – the city most devastated 
by the earthquake – in which school 
children from Bradford and other users 
of the website put questions to those in 
the affected area. 

The Iraq referendum and elections 
generated significant user content for 
BBCArabic.com and other BBC 
international-facing sites.The websites 
had panels where people spoke about 
their voting intentions, fears for security 
and hopes for the future. 

However, online access to the BBC’s news 
services cannot be taken for granted. China 
still blocks the BBC’s news websites, and 
Iran began doing the same for the first time 
in January 2006, depriving many Iranians of 
a trusted source of free and independent 
information at a time of growing 
international tension. 

Kashmir earthquake 
Responding to the big events: the BBC’s global 
news resources are brought swiftly to bear when 
big stories such as the Kashmir earthquake happen 
BBC World 

BBC World – the commercially funded 
international English language news and 
information channel – continues to show 
significant growth in audience reach and 
household distribution, and is achieving 
improvements in the quality of its 
editorial output. 

The total weekly audience of BBC World 
now stands at a record 65 million, up by 
6 million from last year.The channel is 
available 24 hours a day in 138.8 million 
homes, up from 127.3 million last year 
(an increase of 9%), while a further 
140 million homes are able to see BBC 
World on a part-time basis.This brings 
total distribution to 278.8 million homes, 
up from 270 million last year. Hotel room 
distribution increased by more than 13% 
to more than 1.2 million rooms. 

We are encouraged by BBC World’s 
progress towards its key objective of 
gaining 24-hour distribution in North 
America. Last November the channel 
signed a major agreement with Discovery 
to represent the channel in the US. It is 
early days, but BBC World has already 
launched on the Cablevision network on 
a 24-hour basis, providing the channel with 
access to 2 million subscribers in the New 
York area. Discussions are continuing with 
other parties. 

Recent US ratings show BBC World news 
via PBS and BBC America to have a nightly 
average of 927,000 people watching. BBC 
World’s audience to its evening bulletins 
is larger than any individual CNN 
programme, except Larry King. 

52 BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 

Have Your Say 

Giving the audience a voice: initiatives such 
as the World Have Your Say website enable 
audiences around the world to take part in 
debates on global issues 

Audiences have continued to grow in 
Europe with a reach of 11.4% in the latest 
independent survey. In East Asia BBC 
World reach has grown by more than 
30% in a year. 

There has been a continued editorial focus 
on impartial and authoritative news and 
analysis, with more live news and business 
coverage.The BBC World debate at Davos 
attracted a high-profile panel. 

Financially, turnover has increased by 
25.5% to £36million this year and the 
loss for the year (before interest, taxation 
and non-cash pension costs) has fallen 
by 7.0% to £15million.The loss after 
interest and taxation is £11million 
(£11million 2004/2005). 


BBC Monitoring 

Listening to the world: at the Caversham HQ 
of BBC Monitoring, mass media from around the 
globe are sifted and analysed on behalf of a wide 
range of customers 

BBC Monitoring 

BBC Monitoring supplies news, information 
and comment gathered from the mass 
media around the world. Operating around 
the clock, it systematically monitors more 
than 3,000 radio, television, press, internet 
and news agency sources, translating up to 
100 languages, to provide an authoritative 
view of world events. 

BBC Monitoring bureaux in many 
countries give access to media which are 
otherwise not generally available. BBC 
Monitoring’s ability to track news sources 
from some of the most difficult regions 
of the world paid dividends during a 
momentous year in key areas including 
Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, and countries of 
the former Soviet Union such as Belarus, 
Georgia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. During 
the year it provided key source material 
on crucial global events for stakeholders 
including the Cabinet Office, the 
Ministry of Defence, the Foreign and 
Commonwealth Office and the BBC. 

BBC Monitoring was the subject of a 
review by the Cabinet Office on behalf of 
all stakeholders, of its role, oversight and 
funding arrangements.The review, led by 
Sir Quentin Thomas, concluded that BBC 
Monitoring represented “excellent value 
for money” and that it should be a “UK 
objective” to give BBC Monitoring stability 
and confidence, allowing it to focus on 
further building an operation that meets its 
stakeholders’ growing needs for so-called 
‘open source’ information. 

The outcome is that the Cabinet Office 
has now taken over from the Foreign and 
Commonwealth Office as BBC Monitoring’s 
lead stakeholder. A five-year funding 
agreement is now in place. 

A ring-fenced grant replaces the current 
subscription model of funding.The overall 

BBC World distribution to homes 
with 24-hour reception (millions) 

2006 
2005 
2002 
139 
127 
101 
2004 112 
2003 102 

Source:BBC World Distribution Department,various 
Data as at March year end 

funding increase amounts to an average of 
£23.8million per year between 2006/2007 
and 2010/2011. However, it remains 
necessary to reduce costs by £2million 
per annum by March 2007. 

Following publication of the review, BBC 
Monitoring began a transformation of its 
services.The details of structural changes, 
new posts and teams were announced 
in March 2006.The changes include the 
closure of 69 posts, although many had 
been left unfilled to minimise redundancies. 

BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 53