NAME
Nart Bouran
JOB
Head
COMPANY
Sky News Arabia
PRO
FILE
households across the Middle East
and North Africa. Sky News Arabia
is a 50-50 joint venture between Abu
Dhabi Media Investment
Corporation (ADMIC) and Sky UK,
with a huge geographical reach. our
offices are based in Abu Dhabi’s
TwoFour54 media zone and we
work with other news bureaux
across the MENA region to create
home-grown, regionally relevant
content. In the last two years, we
have been able to double our
workforce from 250 to 500
employees and opened more than
20 offices, most recently in Kuwait
City in March.
We pride ourselves on our high
quality content and editorial values.
Even though we face fierce
competition from other well-
established Arabic news channels, I
am confident that we produce a
product of a high enough standard
to have a broad appeal. In the last
three years, we have consistently
maintained our standing in the top
three Arabic news broadcasters,
with our viewership constantly
increasing. More and more people
know of us, understand and
appreciate the content we deliver
and are aware of our journalistic
track record in breaking news.
Uniquely in the region, our
journalists work transparently with
an independent editorial advisory
committee to make sure that we
maintain our editorial line and
integrity when it comes to delivering
impartial, objective news.
ACHANGINGMEDIALANDSCAPE
As an industry, we’re facing a
myriad of challenges: the quality
and objectivity of editorial content,
how news is consumed, advertising
revenue and other financial models,
regulatory frameworks, all on top of
the rapid development of both
technology and company processes.
Even though Sky News Arabia
operates on the basis that the
media landscape will be
unrecognisable in five years’ time, I
strongly believe that both traditional
TV broadcast and new media will
continue to be relevant and
important. The phenomenal growth
of social media, especially on the
MY CAREER
In my 25 years in the news industry,
I have worked with thousands of
people and travelled to places most
people would never set foot in,
fuelled by my passion of sharing
stories. In the early 90’s, just at the
beginning of my career as a video
journalist, I covered hard-hitting,
harrowing life stories from war-torn
countries across the Middle East
and North Africa, falling in love with
news reporting. I left the Middle
East for London in 1995 and joined
Reuters Television as the regional
editor Middle East and Africa for a
few years before heading back to
my native Jordan to become the
Director General of the national
broadcaster, Jordan Radio & TV
Corporation in 2000. I first came to
the UAE in 2002 when I joined Abu
Dhabi TV as the Director of News,
leading their coverage of the Iraq
war in 2003. I then re-joined
Thomson Reuters as Director of
Television, before being appointed
as Head of Sky News Arabia in 2011.
ABOUT SKYNEWS ARABIA
We launched Sky News Arabia in
March 2012. From day one, we have
been a 24/7, Arabic-language news
channel broadcasting to 50m
back of the Arab Spring, has
changed how we report news, and
today acts as a complement to
traditional journalism. This growth
has forced us look at things very
differently, especially when
developing our digital platforms.
our digital assets are growing at
an extraordinary pace, reflecting
the quality of our product and the
demands of our audience. The
number of hits on our website is
growing at a rate of 25-30% each
month, while we’re close to hitting
7m Facebook followers.
FUTURE STRATEGY
We must do more than just react to
today’s trends. We must be able to
predict emerging trends and how
they will impact our already
established offerings. For us, even
though satellite television is still the
most important product in terms of
revenue, we have demonstrated
that we are not only a TV channel,
but a news distributor, using a
multi-platform approach to bring
content to our viewers.
The willingness to change, adapt
and innovate is key to survive in this
industry. I personally thrive on the
challenge, so in time for our three-
year anniversary a couple of months
ago, we rolled out new plans on
programme content, completely
revamped the website and updated
all our apps and digital platforms.
We know what our main
strengths are and what we need to
do. However, unless we continue to
deliver high standard journalism,
none of these new innovations will
succeed. At the end of the day, it is
the content that matters most,
regardless of the medium through
which it is presented.
As a company, we constantly
look at how we can best connect
with our audience, and my strategy
has always been very simple: to
reach as many people as we can,
through as many different channels
as possible, offering top-class,
relevant content at all times.
OUTLOOK
To me, the most important thing is
to connect with people and bring
the news closer to them.
n
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ISSUE 2 2015
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