News Broadcasting
Global bbc.com figures and Twitter shares hit record high
MUMBAI: The BBC today announced that bbc.com reached a record 96 million unique users and generated an all-time high of 1.3 billion page views in March 2014. BBC World News welcomed its five millionth Facebook fan and new figures also reveal that the BBC is by far the most-shared news brand on Twitter (source: Newswhip), with its stories shared a record 2.71 million times across the month – almost 50% more than any other publisher. The driving factors were its coverage of major global news stories including the crisis in Ukraine and the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and the increased popularity of bbc.com’s feature sections including BBC Future, BBC Travel and BBC Culture.
The site, which offers up-to-the minute international and local news and in-depth analysis, saw unique user figures up 26% on the monthly average of 76 million, whilst page views rocketed by 35%. Over 34 million video views were seen during the month, with a record-breaking 11 million viewed via the bbc.com apps.
James Montgomery, Director of Digital and Technology for bbc.com, said, “As the leader in global breaking news, our users rely on the BBC to provide impartial and accurate news on developing stories and significant global events, whatever their nature or location. We are incredibly proud that so many people chose us as their trusted source for news on the major stories that captivated the world last month.”
March also marked a record month for traffic across the five feature sections of bbc.com – BBC Travel, BBC Future, BBC Autos, BBC Capital and BBC Culture which together attracted 7 million visitors and 63 million page views; resulting in a month-on-month increase of 42% and year-on-year growth of 106%. Popular articles included: BBC Future’s ‘The Future of Safe Sex’ which received over 269,000 page views, BBC Culture’s ‘Beyond Jodorowsky’s Dune: 10 Greatest Movies Never Made’ attracted almost 3.2 million views across the month and BBC Travel’s game ‘Geoguesser’ ‘How Well Do You Know The World’ drew an impressive 270,000 unique users.
Jonathan Fildes, Managing Editor, Features, BBC.com added, “The feature sections offer users of the site an alternative and in-depth take on a variety of current and unusual topics complementing bbc.com’s news output. We are delighted that these sections are growing in popularity and drawing record figures from fans of bbc.com.”
Bbc.com has seen a rise in mobile usage of 88% year on year to 24 million browsers per month, whilst figures for desktop have remained stable at 56 million.
News Broadcasting
Book Cricket gets a digital century on News18 amid T20 fever
Nostalgic classroom game revamped in English, Hindi plus Telugu on web and app.
MUMBAI: When the T20 World Cup fever hits fever pitch, News18 decides to flip the script straight back to the classroom. The digital news platform has revived the timeless schoolyard favourite Book Cricket as an interactive online game, perfectly timed to ride the cricket wave gripping fans across the globe. The reimagined Book Cricket ditches textbooks for smartphones, blending old-school nostalgia with modern gameplay. Once a sneaky recess pastime played by flicking book pages to score runs, the digital version now offers seamless fun for anyone craving a quick cricket fix between overs.
Available in English, Hindi and Telugu (with more languages planned across News18’s network), the game sits within the platform’s fast-growing gaming portfolio of over 20 titles, all built in-house. It joins event-driven hits like ‘Kursi Catcher’ and ‘Result Rewind’ during the 2025 Bihar Assembly Elections, plus festive specials such as ‘Durga’s Astras’ for Durga Puja and ‘Mouse Modak’ for Ganesh Chaturthi.
News18 Digital CEO Mitul Sangani said, “Gaming is a key pillar of our engagement strategy. At News18, we uniquely combine our newsroom agility with immersive gaming experiences. By blending credible content with interactive formats, we are creating meaningful engagement in an era defined by shrinking attention spans and evolving consumption habits.”
Select titles have expanded beyond News18.com to CNBC-TV18.com and Firstpost.com, reflecting the network’s push to deepen user interaction across platforms. The Book Cricket game is live now at https://www.news18.com/games/book-cricket/.
In a tournament where every boundary counts, News18’s digital Book Cricket proves the simplest games can still deliver the biggest smiles no syllabus required, just pure cricket joy one page-flip at a time.
