MUMBAI: PAX survey conducted by Synovate projects CNN as the undisputed news leader in Asia. The survey says the channel has grown its monthly reach among business decision makers, top management and the total PAX demographic.

On the other hand, BBC World, quoting the survey findings, claims a greater year-on-year increase in weekly viewing among top management than any other international news channel.

According to the survey, CNN International demonstrates the highest year-on-year growth in the news/business genre, adding over half a million more monthly viewers during 2004 (+18 per cent). The survey also shows the channel having a larger daily audience of top management and business decision makers than any other international cable/satellite channel.

In addition, the PAX survey indicates that the full-year survey results (Jan - Dec‘04) have revealed CNN International further increasing its lead over its nearest news/business competitor, with an 87 per cent audience advantage.

Turner International Asia Pacific Ltd vice president, news advertising sales William Hsu said, “The growth in our viewership proves that these upscale audiences recognize the increasing importance of news in this globalized world, and they’re getting what they need from CNN. This also justifies our continuous investment in newsgathering, programming, talent, and technology to offer the best news service in the field.”

Turner International Asia Pacific Ltd vice president research Duncan Morris said “Since moving to a rolling annual sample, PAX has allowed us to track long-term trends in our audience, which is now at an all-time high in terms of monthly viewers. The most recent two PAX data releases have also shown increases in our weekly audiences, indicating that new viewers are now becoming ever more regular viewers.”

According to the Synovate PAX Emerging Channel Indicator (Jul –Dec‘04), a companion survey to PAX, CNN.com is the leading regional media web site across the entire PAX sample, attracting twice as many of its audience as the next most targeted news/business web site, informs the media release.