Deutsche Welle: More than 50 percent growth in global reach

Deutsche Welle has managed to boost the number of its weekly users around the globe from 101 million to 157 million over the past four years. DW Director General Peter Limbourg announced the substantial rise in numbers to an audience of top leaders from the German media industry at the Medientage Munich conference.

"DW has managed to clearly exceed its goals for 2017 to reach more than 150 million users. At the same time DW has secured a leading position among international broadcasters," Limbourg said. The director general stressed that these statements were based on initial results from the latest evaluation report produced by DW, covering the years 2014 to 2017. According to the report, DW managed to boost its reach by nearly 60 percent.

Limbourg added: "This definite increase in users in many of our target regions proves that we have reaped this sustained success on account of introducing a series of changes to our programming, committing ourselves to the consistent use of social media content, and optimizing our distribution channels."

A main contributor to this growth lay in developing a greater reach for the four DW TV channels broadcasting in English, Arabic, Spanish and German. Roughly 465 million households around the world now have access to these channels. The Spanish-language channel alone has managed to boost its weekly audience numbers from six million viewers to 16 million.

The new strategy also marked successes online and in social media, where content creation has been geared towards targeting individual audiences while using the best available distribution channels according to those regions. In all of DW’s 30 languages, the reach of digital media offerings has even surpassed the growth rates of our linear television programming.

In a global survey, DW users certified that in addition to growing in relevance, DW also stood out for the high credibility of its content. 96 percent of those surveyed described DW as a credible source of information. This also marks an increase from 2012, when 89 percent of those asked said that DW’s content was credible.

Peter Limbourg: “During these times of fake news, disinformation and propaganda, people around the world regard DW as a reliable and trustworthy source of information. This allows us to contribute our own significant share to fostering independent opinion making.”

DW’s content decidedly promotes freedom of information and democratic debate in addition to strengthening ties and exchange between cultures. A correlation study as well as a long-term study of German language students, who make use of DW’s language content, both prove this. According to both studies, DW users are more aware about the key principles of democracy and are better equipped to form their independent opinions.

DW’s TV programming and online content fill a gap of information particularly in the Arabic-speaking world, where local media sources fail to report on certain issues. DW is recognized as a neutral media source that addresses problems that prevail in the Middle East and North Africa. The high rate of interaction DW witnesses with users from that region shows that providing such objective information promotes increased tolerance among people and rising awareness about political and social developments.