BBC’s international news services which includes BBC World News, BBC World Service and bbc.com, has hit global weekly audience estimates of 239 million. These figures were driven by the performance of BBC Arabic and BBC Persian services as tumultuous events in the Middle East and North Africa get unfolded, causing audiences to turn to the BBC for independent news they could trust.

In the past year, BBC’s Arabic Service has seen a record rise in audiences with 25 million adults tuning in weekly. BBC Persian TV has doubled its reach in Iran, with an audience of 6 million people despite facing a campaign of censorship and intimidation by the Iranian authorities. Also, BBC’s English language radio programming on the BBC World Service has also performed well with audiences holding firm at an overall of about 44 million.

The global audiences for BBC World Service, BBC World News and bbc.com were 145 million for radio, 97 million for television and 30 million for online, which includes a 20% increase for BBC World Service online. The bbc.com mobile site reached 2.7 million users per week, reflecting a 30% increase from 2011 as well.

Peter Horrocks, director of BBC Global News wrote in a blog post stating that the figures are cause for cautious confidence but certainly not complacency. BBC will still have significant challenges ahead, including the need for BBC World Service to make additional savings and the integration of their domestic and international news operations in state-of-the-art new facilities in New Broadcasting House.