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The highest audience figures for a decade have been seen on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ One Wales and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Two Wales in 2013/14, according to the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Annual Report and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Audience Council Wales annual review published today.  

The early evening news bulletin ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Wales Today also hit record highs, being watched by an average of 305,000 people.

The Audience Council Wales, the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Trust’s advisory body, welcomed the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½â€™s successes in Wales and the programme highlights this year.  These included Y Gwyll/Hinterland, which was broadcast in three versions in partnership with S4C - Welsh, bilingual, and English – for the first time to audiences in Wales and then across the UK.  The Live Longer Wales season of programmes across TV, radio and online reached almost 40 per cent of adults in Wales.

ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Wales continued to make a strong contribution to programmes for audiences across the UK, with an average of nearly 12 million people tuning in to the latest series of Sherlock making it the most-watched ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ drama series for over a decade and the most requested drama ever on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ iPlayer.  The 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who, also produced in Cardiff, was simulcast to 98 countries around the world. 

ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio Wales continued to perform strongly with an average of 468,000 people listening every week. ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio Cymru increased its audience reach by 13 per cent, launched an extensive public consultation with its listeners and subsequently re-launched its weekday schedule.

The Audience Council also welcomed the launch of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ One Wales HD and recent improvements to DAB coverage of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio Wales and Radio Cymru, up from 41 per cent to 61 per cent.

The Council, which held 18 events this year to gather the views of audiences, has stressed the need for further improvement to both DAB and FM coverage of Radio Wales and expressed concern that UK-wide ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ network news still does not properly reflect post-devolution UK.  While the Council concluded that there had been some progress, it said that there were still insufficient comparisons of legal and policy positions in the different nations of the UK.  The Council also highlighted audience concerns about the continuing decline in the amount of English language non-news TV programmes produced by ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Wales for Welsh audiences, which has decreased by 21 per cent since 2007/8.

ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Trustee for Wales Elan Closs Stephens said:

"With record audiences over the last year it’s clear that ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Cymru Wales is delivering for audiences in Wales and the outstanding programmes over the last year are testament to that.  In addition drama made in Wales for the whole UK goes from strength to strength and Radio Cymru brought in more listeners. 

"However, it is a matter of concern that the Audience Council has identified ongoing issues with the way that ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ network news reflects Wales, and a lack of English-language TV programmes, particularly comedy and drama, produced in Wales for Wales.  The Trust will continue to work with the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ to address these concerns in the coming year."

Notes to editors

1. The Audience Council Wales Annual Review for 2013/14 can be found here
2. The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Annual Report and Accounts for 2013/14 can be found here
3. The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ management annual review for Wales can be found here.