MUMBAI: The latest International Air Travellers Survey (IATS) Asia -Pacific 2002 reveals that BBC World is the fastest growing international news channel in the region.

The study which measures the viewership of international channels and readership of international publications among international air travellers revealed that BBC World's viewership has increased from six per cent to 13 per cent, a BBC release says. In contrast CNN's viewership has dropped from 26.1 per cent to 19.8 per cent and that of CNBC from 10.4 per cent to 6.9 per cent, the release further says.

The IATS survey, which included Japan for the first time, found that BBC World ranked second out of the eight channels among those interviewed in Osaka Airport, the release says.

The survey found that among visitors traveling to Asia from the rest of the world , the gap between those watching BBC World and CNN has narrowed down by more than half. It further discovered that in terms of audience profile BBC World's monthly viewers are more likely than those of CNN to be frequent travelers who fly first or business class
and are involved in business purchases, says the release.

"Travel has always been an important part of our viewers' lives and BBC World has reflected that in its schedule with award winning weekend travelogue programmes such as Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure, Great Railway Journeys and Benedict's Allen's Edge of Blue Heaven all forming part of our ongoing VOYAGER strand. We have combined this with the weekly travel business programme , Fast Track, for business travellers alongside the popular leisure series Holiday," BBC World , Head of Research and Planning, Jeremy Nye was quoted as saying in the release.

The IATS Asia Pacific 2002 was carried out in June and July 2002 among a sample of 11,615 travelers aged 18 and above departing on scheduled international flights from eight major airports: Bangkok, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Osaka, Seoul, Singapore and Taipei.

The study measures the viewership of international channels and readership of international publications among international air travelers.