The number of people listening to the BBC World Service has dropped by 17 million, according to the latest figures released by the British broadcaster.

Despite the fall, World Service radio remains the biggest platform overall with 128 million listeners, with the BBC’s TV audience close behind with 126 million.

Overall the BBC’s global audience for 2013-14 has increased to a record-breaking 265 million people a week, a rise of nine million from the previous year.

The numbers are a measure of the combined reach of the BBC World Service, BBC World News, bbc.com/news and BBC Media Action.

The biggest audience growth was in Russia and Ukraine while the Indian audience grew after declining for the last few years.

BBC digital news services have also grown by a 21 per cent increasing its audience to 46 million.

Peter Horrocks, Director of the BBC World Service Group, said: “Radio will be a World Service mainstay for years to come, but as these figures testify, the way people access news is changing and we must continue to innovate if we are to flourish in the years ahead.”

Currently, the BBC is also exploring new ways to measure audience to reflect their changing behaviours around the world.