For over 85 years, the ABC has been providing news, current affairs, entertainment and culturally enriching content to audiences outside Australia.
This content encourages international awareness of Australia and Australian attitudes on world affairs and allows Australian expatriates and travellers to keep in touch with affairs at home.
ABC International's two divisions – ABC International Services and ABC International Development – have a shared purpose to be the pre-eminent Australian source of independent news, information, and media support to the Indo-Pacific region.
Explore ABC International in the Asia Pacific
The ABC International Indo-Pacific Media Map is an interactive data storytelling platform that explores ABC International’s activities and relationships with media and audiences across Asia and the Pacific.
ABC International Services
ABC International Services manages the content platforms that make ABC storytelling available on television, radio and online for international audiences, with a focus on the Asia Pacific region. Explore the ABC's international channels below;
A Snapshot of ABC International's Audiences
- The ABC is the most trusted international media in the Pacific region, with 80% of Pacific audiences (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu) trusting the ABC according to audience research in 2023.
- ABC Australia television has a monthly viewership across the Asia-Pacific of at least 10.5million and is availably internationally via more than 100 broadcast partners.
- ABC Radio Australia’s FM radio service has a monthly urban listenership of at least 355,500 in the Pacific and Timor-Leste.
- ABC Pacific, the digital home for bespoke and curated content for Pacific audiences, has approximately 487,500 followers on ABC Pacific Facebook.
- ABC Asia, the digital home for bespoke and curated content for audiences across Asia, has over 5.7 million followers on ABC Asia Facebook.
- The ABC’s Asia Pacific Newsroom (APN) produces content for regional audiences in English, Chinese, Bahasa Indonesian and Tok Pisin.
ABC International Development (ABCID)
The ABC supports public interest journalism in the Asia Pacific region through its ABC International Development unit. Entirely funded by donor agencies, ABCID aims to build media capacity across the Indo-Pacific, with a particular focus on the Pacific, by partnering with media, civil society and government organisations.
ABC International's History
1939 – On 20 December 1939, Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies launched Australia's first international radio broadcast with the words, "The time has come to speak for ourselves." This shortwave radio service called Australia Calling was an attempt to counter wartime propaganda from Germany and Japan and later became ABC Radio Australia, available today as an FM service in 22 locations in the Pacific and Timor-Leste.
1993 – The international television service, ABC Australia was first established. The ABC has operated international television services since 1993, except between 1998 and 2001 when the Federal Government sold the service to Channel Seven. Today, ABC Australia television is available in approximately 40 countries in the Asia Pacific.
2022 - The Federal Government provided the ABC with additional funding of $32 million over four years to expand content production, transmission, and media assistance in the Asia Pacific. In the May 2023 budget, a further $8.5 million was allocated over four years for enhancements to regional transmission and distribution.
2023 - ABC International launched ABC Pacific and ABC Asia which are digital destinations offering news, video and audio content relevant to audiences in the Pacific and Asia. ABC Radio Australia also launched a new suite of programming, tripling the amount of Pacific-focused content.