Hosts Tom "Wookie" Ford (L-R), Jonny Smith, and executive producer Nathaniel Grouille participate in BBC America "Mud, Sweat and Gears"
IN PHOTO: Hosts Tom "Wookie" Ford (L-R), Jonny Smith, and executive producer Nathaniel Grouille participate in BBC America "Mud, Sweat and Gears" panel at the Television Critics Association (TCA) Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, California January 10, 2015. REUTERS/David McNew

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has reached new heights with a new total audience of 308 million worldwide. The UK broadcaster proudly announced that they are nearly two-thirds of their goal. The audience reach figures are based on a combined total figures from global BBC branded channels that include BBC America and BBC Worldwide channel brands.

“What do the figures tell us? For news — which includes the BBC World Service, our commercial services on TV and online, and our international development charity BBC Media Action — they show our highest audience ever, at 283 million, an increase of percent on last year. And they show a changing world. For the first time, television is bigger than radio,” BBC World Service Group said in a statement.

BBC is the world’s oldest news organisation and the public service broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It has both television and radio services, and a recently-launched interactive digital television services called BBC Red Button.

Although the latest figures show that more audience prefer television than radio, radio listeners still increased since last year. The BBC announced that it will still devote its effort in promoting the audio platform may it be radio, podcasts or online streaming as much as its other services.

Radio is not a dying business; in fact a recent study by YouGovReports showed that it is still the chosen medium to finding new music. Research Director James McCoy said that while digital music is a thriving industry in the UK, radio is still the preferred way of discovering new music by majority of listeners. It has an edge over other platforms because it’s not only live and free, it also “gives an element of surprise once in a while.”

BBC and YouGovReports' analysis on the “audio” medium is a trend that will continue to grow. Companies such as Spotify and SoundCloud will continue its popularity as a platform of music streaming and podcasting.

London-based Audioboom (London AIM:BOOM), a spoken-word audio platform, allows smartphone and web users to record, upload and play digital audio recordings on their website. The digital audios can be shared via Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr. The company also has important partners in spreading the “spoken word.”

BBC Radios 2, 4 and 6 and BBC local radio stations and other stations of BBC worldwide are in partnership with Audioboom. Recently, a favourite UK personality, Russell Brand, launched a new podcast series on Audioboom early this year.

Content partners can also make use of mobile apps. Among the other content partners are The Telegraph, The Guardian, CBS, Sky Sports, Premier League, Southern Cross Austereo, Reuters, CNBC, Universal and Fox. Audioboom has been a favourite digital platform among audio bloggers, journalists, teachers, and podcasters.

Contact the writer: a.lu@ibtimes.com.au

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