NEW DELHI: The sixth Pan Asia Cross Media Survey (PAX) has found that unlike other news channels, BBC World has held onto the audience it gained in 2001 as well as showing annual growth in some of Asia's biggest urban centres.
BBC World's monthly audience grew by 14 per cent year-on-year to 993,000 - the fastest growth for any of the top ten international channels, according to a press release from BBC. BBC World enjoyed particularly large growth in Kuala Lumpur - up 79 per cent, Bangkok - up 41per cent, Hong Kong - up 17 per cent and Taipei - up 16 per cent.
According to the study, BBC World also attracts a further 590,000 monthly viewers in Seoul and in India which combined with the rest results in a total panel viewership of 1.58 million. This confirms the trend seen in the recent IATS survey among air travellers, the only other recent survey in Asia which even attempts to measure viewership amongst such business audiences.
In particular, BBC World's investment in business programming is attracting a loyal audience of senior business people. Findings show that more than 44,000 'Top Management' in Asia tune into BBC World 'Every day/ Almost every day' - more than any sports or business news channel. Among those in such senior positions in medium and larger firms (50+ employees), BBC World's 21,000 regular viewers makes it the fourth largest international channel and the eighth largest among all the channels across Asia, including terrestrials (and among the top five outside Korea).
BBC World's overall audience profile also remains enviably upscale. Among the largest ten international channels which business decision-makers in Asia-Pacific watch, BBC World's audience includes the highest proportion of top management (34 per cent) and opinion formers involved in more than three business activities (30 per cent).
The PAX 2002 survey was conducted from July to September 2002 among 3,976 respondents in nine markets in South East Asia and India. This release is based on the full nine-markets (Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Taipei, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Seoul, and India).
