226 million a week: U.S. government has the biggest broadcast audience of all

OPINION:

It’s not the noisy cable and broadcast networks who get the really big audiences in the world. One federal agency eclipses them all: The Broadcasting Board of Governors — the BBG, the official supervisory organization which oversees U.S. government-supported media such as Voice of America and Radio Free Europe.

The agency reports its programming now reaches 226 million viewers and listeners in more than 100 countries, and in 61 languages - a week. That’s up from 215 million a week in 2014.

The largest audiences are in Indonesia, where 31.4 million take in the American-made programming a week, followed by Mexico, Nigeria, Iran, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Pakistan and Bangladesh

“This audience increase — while it is just one of many impact measurements — shows the hunger for accurate and reliable information around the world,” says John Lansing, director and CEO of the agency. “As propaganda and misinformation continue to saturate media markets globally, more and more people are turning to the networks of the BBG for trusted, fact-based reporting.”

See the numbers here