Owen Bennett-Jones on the BBC's "statistical alchemy" over audience figures

Owen Bennett-Jones writes:

The BBC says it doesn’t really matter because the BBC World Service's worldwide audience is climbing steadily towards a target of five hundred million. However, the sleights of hand used to achieve these audience figures render them largely meaningless. The trick has been to take the existing content, chop it up into ever smaller gobbets and pump them out on every social media platform imaginable. Anyone who glances at one of these offerings, even if momentarily and by accident, counts as a member of the audience.