We have a
dedicated
advertising
window
for Africa
“
”
produced by Euronews, and
Euronews will do the same.
Why did you choose Brazzaville as
base?
Our project had very precise
specifications. We needed a country
to host the project where freedom
of expression will be protected,
where the independence of our
work will be, let’s say, agreed, with
sufficient technical infrastructure
like fibre and which is centrally
located. I was very fortunate to
meet Stephen Smith, a well-known
journalist and Africa expert, and I
gave him the job to go to Africa
with our project. He went to see
dozens of countries. Congo was the
only country that respected all the
strict conditions that were in the
specifications. I also feel there is a
parallel between Brazzaville and
Lyon. Why run such a big news
operation from Lyon? It works
because being such a human sized
town has a lot of advantages for us.
I think it’s the same for Brazzaville.
What differentiates Africanews
from other news channels
launching in Africa?
Our news is developed in a multi-
lingual and multicultural way by a
newsroom which offers a plurality
of perspectives. These are core
values of Euronews and Africanews.
Our approach is quite different to
that of other channels which are
coming to give their own
perspective on Africa. If you
consume the Euronews brand every
month – like 90 million people do –
then that’s because you think that
Euronews is very different from the
other channels, with a very
different format. I think it will be
the same for Africanews.
What media formats will you offer?
All of them. TV is pre-history now.
For the past year and a half we
haven’t used the word channel or
TV in Euronews anymore. We only
speak about three things: content,
products and brands. If you look at
Euronews on the linear offer today
you’ll see that it’s like a succession
of different VODs [videos on
demand]. Africanews will work in
the same way. Journalists will
produce content, then this content
will be adapted to proposed
products. The linear offer is one
product and it will be accessible via
a big screen in your living room.
But it will equally be available on a
small window on your computer
and with the same content we will
also be able to produce other
products like a website, a YouTube
channel, a mobile app etc.
What is the business model?
We already have a dedicated
advertising window for Africa with
Euronews. I think it has increased
by 450% in the first half of this year,
compared to the first half of 2013.
There are a great number of brands
who want to communicate through
a multi-territory approach in Africa
today. This is why we believe in the
Africanews project so strongly.
Which languages will you
broadcast in?
We’ll start with English and French.
We’d also like to be able to launch
Portuguese. Then the idea is to
apply the model that we have used
at Euronews, which means to
enrich the brand with lots of news
languages like Swahili, Hausa,
Spanish and Arabic.
Your wish list for the next two years?
I try to wake up in the morning
with only one thing on my mind,
which is: How can I better meet the
user experience? That’s probably
my only goal.
What is that user experience?
The user experience of today is that
people consume news in a totally
different way, depending on the
time of day and their physical
location. Once you have
understood that, you just have to
try and meet their expectations. For
example, when they are on a bus in
the morning they want very short
formats; later in the day when they
are sitting in a chair with a larger
screen they want to be much more
interactive, perhaps do some
research and explore topics.
And in the evening, relaxing on
a sofa in front of an even bigger
screen, they want to consume a
much longer format in a very
passive way, while often at the
same time interacting on a smaller
screen device with what they see on
the big screen.
That’s what I call the user
experience – and what links this
experience is the brand. The brand
is the result of a mixture between
content and product. People
consume news and media while
they are moving around.
Mobile is first now. For instance
Nokia is about to launch a new
smartphone, the NokiaX, which
will be sold for around $100. It will
be delivered with the Euronews
Express app available from launch
and free of charge. It’s a 100% news
application without video so
doesn’t use much bandwidth, with
text only. I think that with these
kind of initiatives growth in Africa
will be much more rapid than we
think.
Michael Peters, thank you.
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