How does your news measure up?
The BBC covers the most serious news known to man — West Bank stabbings, friendly fire air strikes, Justin Bieber’s bad behavior — and does so in an average of 4.7-character words.
How does your copy’s readability compare to that of the world’s largest broadcast organization?
Benchmark readability
One way to find out is to benchmark readability statistics. That’s a great way to convince bosses, clients and reviewers that extremely readable copy makes sense, even for serious messages.
We used Microsoft Word’s Readability Statistics to measure how the BBC’s readability stacks up. We analyzed every story (23, including the top 10 most read) on the BBC.com home page on a single day.
Here’s what we found out … and how you can improve readability of your own pieces.
1. The BBC’s paragraphs weigh in at an average of just 24 words, or 1.4 sentences. See how easy this 21-word paragraph looks — and is — to process:
— “Dali’s moustache ‘intact at 10 past 10,’ exhumation finds,” BBC News
2. The BBC’s lead paragraphs average 25 words. Write first paragraphs that go down easy like this 21-word lead from the BBC:
— “Gay Germans’ joy mixed with adoption angst,” BBC News
3. The BBC’s sentences average 19 words — a little longer than our recommended average. Model the sentences from this piece, which averaged 13.7 words per sentence:
— “Sean Spicer: My hectic six months with White House spokesman,” BBC News
4. The BBC averages 4.7 characters per word. This passage, for instance, weighs in at about 4.8 characters per word:
— “China holds Canadians ‘for smoking marijuana,’” BBC News
5. Of the 23 BBC articles we reviewed, only one had any passive voice. That gives the BBC an average .4% (that’s four-tenths of 1%) passive voice total. This passage, for instance, is free from passive voice:
— “Thailand monks: Wirapol Sukphol case highlights country’s Buddhism crisis,” BBC News
6. The BBC averages 52.4 on this readability scale of 0 to 100. This passage hits 64.5 on the Flesch scale:
— “As an open-air heroin camp is closed, options narrow,” BBC News
7. The world news organization weighs in at 10.63. C’mon. You can do better. This passage, for instance, hits 6.4 on the Flesch-Kincaid scale:
— “Norway: The country where no salaries are secret,” BBC News
Benchmark readability
Benchmarking your copy’s readability can help you:
- Convince approvers that — yes, even in your business — high readability is essential and achievable.
- Set, measure and report standards for readable writing within your writing group.
- Improve readability for your own copy.
What are you waiting for? Benchmark readability in business media, industry journals, your company communications — maybe even your competitors’.
Then, no matter how serious the material, aim for standards that will help you get the word out to the most people.
Just like the BBC does.
Reach more readers with tight writing
Would your piece be twice as good if it were half as long? Yes, say readability experts.
So how long should your message be? Your paragraphs? Your sentences? Your words? What reading ease level should you hit?
Learn how to write clearer, more concise messages at our clear-writing course.
Anne…Thank You for publishing these tips on readability. I have been using a different set to teach my US Air Force and American University students readability statistics and they do work.
If only students and professional writers would use them.
Sincerely…
Vince…
Hi Vince, I’d love to see yours. Keep up the good work! We’ll make a dent!