Press Releases & Press Packs

11.04.03

WAR IN IRAQ BBC NEWS

More people turn to the BBC for news of war in Iraq

· BBC and independent research shows that BBC ONE is the most trusted and most used news by audiences during the war with Iraq

· More people have used BBC News than any other news service

· Internationally, audiences have grown substantially for radio, TV and online

· The BBC was the only main UK terrestrial channel to show the dramatic iconic pictures of Saddam Hussein's statue toppling

Audiences for BBC News output

· 49.6 million people (89% of the UK population 4+) have turned to the BBC since the start of the war

· BBC News Online has recorded 400 million pages impressions; international traffic increases by 40.6% in United States, 9.9% in Canada

· BBC World audiences increase by 77.4 million homes to reach 300 million homes in 200 countries

· MORI poll reveals that BBC ONE is the most watched and most trusted channel

· ICM poll reveals that 78% of respondents opt for the BBC's coverage of events and the dominance of BBC Radio

3 to 9 April 2003

Total hours of news consumption: On a typical day in the third week, 46 million hours of TV news coverage was consumed in the UK. BBC television had 52% of time spent watching news on television compared to 30% for ITV, 14% for Sky, 3% for Channel 4 and 1% for Five.

News 24: In the third week of the war (3 to 9 April) 61% of the UK population, 34 million people, watched BBC News 24's coverage on the channel itself or on the simulcasts on BBC ONE and BBC TWO – this an increase of 6.6 million people on the previous week. See Notes to Editors

Breakfast: The weekday audience to BBC Breakfast is up 38% year-to-date to 1.4 million (GMTV is down 2% at 1.2m).

Lunchtime: Audiences to the weekday BBC ONE O'clock News are down 14% on the year-to-date at 3 million (ITV’s lunchtime news is down 12% to 1.6 million). This is due to increased news output across daytime providing viewers with ample opportunity to see events unfold prior to the catch up provided by the news.

Six O’clock News: Audiences increased on the previous week by 0.4m to reach 5.8m. This is down 6% year-to-date in audience terms but up 6% in share terms. ITV's early bulletin at 6.30pm is down 10% in audience terms and level in share year-to-date at 4.8m.

Ten O'clock News: The weekday late evening bulletin is up 11% year-to-date to 6 million. (ITV's 9.00pm news had an average 6.8 million viewers for its shorter bulletin. It should be noted that ITV's 9.00pm bulletin can inherit audience from hammocking in the schedule with programmes such as Coronation Street).

BBC World: Audience reach has increased by 77.4 million to reach over 300 million homes in 200 countries. Audiences in Australia have increased sevenfold, making it the fastest growth of any channel surveyed; South African audience share has quadrupled in multi-channel homes.

BBC News Online: 126 million page impressions were recorded this week compared to 112 million for the previous week, up 12.5%. The fall of Baghdad on Wednesday generated 29 million page impressions alone.

BBC World Service: Over 215 million page impressions for March, up from 127 million previously. The international facing site has experienced a 70% increase in traffic, with Arabic-specific traffic doubling. A total of 12,000 text messages since the beginning of the conflict.

Radio Online: Radio listening cannot be measured overnight. However, online figures show a five-fold increase in listening to Five Live on the internet, a doubling of listening to Radio 4 and huge increases in usage of the Today and Five Live message boards.

Notes to Editors

Information prepared by BBC Audience Research (11 April 2003).

BARB has warned that viewing to the News 24 channel will be significantly understated in the hours when it is simulcast on BBC ONE and BBC TWO because it cannot be separately measured in Freeview and cable households at these times (4.7 million homes in total).

BBC coverage of Iraq crisis (18.03.03)

Freeview offers the BBC's eight television channels, interactive services from BBCi, as well as 11 BBC radio networks.

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