MUMBAI: Viewers in India spent more time watching BBC World’s coverage of this month’s US Presidential election than any other domestic or international English language news channel.

Numbers thrown out by Tam show that on 2 - 3 November, BBC World’s reach almost doubled (up 97 per cent) in India’s top six metros compared to the previous week.

BBC World attracted the highest share of audiences in the SEC group A in India’s top six metros on the two days surveyed, with an increase of 125 per cent across the whole country during this period over the same days the previous week (26 and 27 October).

The Peoplemeter research also revealed that BBC World was the most watched channel in Mumbai with a 44 per cent channel share, ahead of other news channels including CNN (23 per cent), NDTV 24X7 (23 per cent), CNBC (6 per cent), and Headlines Today (4 per cent). Viewers in Mumbai also watched BBC World for much longer (31 minutes per viewer) than CNN (13 minutes), NDTV 24X7 (12 minutes), CNBC (5 minutes) and Headlines Today (5 minutes).

In the two-week period leading up to the elections (24 October - 6 November), BBC World was watched by 7.8 million viewers, nearly twice that of CNN. BBC World regularly appeared in the top ten programmes amongst international news channels, with viewers tuning in to its hourly news bulletins, Asia Today and its State of The Union Season, a special season tied into the US election.

BBC World senior research manager India Dezma de Melo said, "These excellent results once again reflect BBC World’s credibility amongst Indian viewers who turn to the channel for its objective analysis and comprehensive coverage of significant global events. BBC World has emerged as a clear winner with viewers turning to the channel’s unparalleled election coverage from a global perspective."