Bangladesh has emerged among the top five overseas markets for BBC News after it registered an audience reach of 12 million in 2018, according to latest figures released in London on Tuesday.
The Global Audience Measure (GAM), an annual update of how many people are consuming the UK's tax-funded British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) output weekly, found that the UK’s public broadcaster hit a new high of 426 million a week – an increase of 50 million (13 per cent).
Bangladesh shares the fifth spot with Afghanistan, which also logged 12 million viewers last year. Ahead of them in the top five is India with audience figures of 50 million, Nigeria with 41 million, the US with 38 million and Kenya with 15 million.
BBC Director-General Tony Hall said: "Every day our teams do an amazing job bringing independent, impartial news to audiences around the world, and today we can see just how much the BBC is valued.
“Thanks to government investment we’ve been able to launch the biggest expansion of the World Service since the Second World War, and this shows how much the BBC can do for the UK."
BBC News registered an audience of 394 million globally, a rise of 47 million, with BBC World Service in English, and 42 languages, account for 319 million of that figure – with an increase of 41 million.
BBC World Service in English and the BBC World News TV channel have both achieved all-time record audiences of 97 million and 101 million respectively. BBC World Service’s 42 language services, including Bangla, have climbed to 259 million.
Jamie Angus, Director of the BBC World Service Group said: “The BBC is on track to reach its audience target of 500 million weekly, and has posted all-time record audiences for both World Service Radio and BBC World News.
“But most importantly we’re continuing to produce groundbreaking journalism that is attracting growing audiences, and making huge impact. From investigative journalism like Africa Eye to our work countering fake news and disinformation, the BBC is showing why it remains world’s most trusted international broadcaster.”