13 May 2014
Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international broadcaster, showed record traffic to its online offerings in March. Visits to DW’s sites were up by 47 percent compared with the average for the previous six months.
Nearly 155 million hits and interactions were registered on DW’s sites, more than in any month before. Users on Twitter and Facebook alone jumped 68 percent. Video views on dw.de and Youtube climbed 37 percent. Views on www.dw.de more than doubled, reaching over four million in March.
The dramatic rise can be mainly attributed to DW offerings in Ukrainian and Russian. The crisis in Crimea and Ukraine led to a high demand for DW’s online offerings. The total visits to dw.de/russian grew to more than 6.4 million, a 250 percent increase. For dw.de/ukrainian the total number of visits saw a rise of 260 percent, climbing to 2.2 million.
DW’s Indonesian website (dw.de/indonesian) also contributed to the record breaking figures, registering 700,000 visits, an increase of more than 200 percent. It was largely DW’s coverage of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 that brought the increase in traffic to the Indonesian site.
“The numbers reflect the growing relevance of Deutsche Welle in international media markets. At the same time, these figures reaffirm the recent changes to our programming,” said DW Director General Peter Limbourg. “With new offerings and courageous journalism we can significantly expand our audience reach and increase relevance to global decision-makers,” he said.
The strong growth in online traffic also came from the show AlBernameg (The Program) by the Egyptian political satirist Bassem Youssef. The first five episodes of the show were viewed a total of 1.4 million times on the DW Arabic website. They are to date DW’s most frequently viewed web videos.
The Russian-language daily web TV magazine Geofaktor has also contributed to the record online traffic since it was launched on March 15. By the end of the month it had already been viewed 430,000 times. The program was viewed a further 50,000 times on Youtube. In total, Russian-language videos registered about 850,000 views.
The benchmark which Deutsche Welle’s Market and Media Research department used to analyze the monthly reports on online traffic was the average for the six preceding months. (For March 2014, the analysis was based on the average value for the period September 2013 to February 2014.) (Source: Press release)
12 May 2014
Television and radio stations in eastern Ukraine carrying programming of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America have been forced off the air, depriving audiences of popular sources of unbiased news and information.
On May 12 at 10:30 a.m. local time, unidentified, Russian-speaking armed men forced employees to turn off the transmitter at a station in Donetsk used by RFE/RL broadcast affiliate Radio Era FM. The men then reconfigured the transmitter to broadcast programming from “Radio Respublika,” a previously unknown station airing Russian state radio programs and other pro-Russian content. RFE/RL programs normally run on Radio Era FM from 6-7 a.m. and 9-10 p.m. Monday through Friday but are currently off the air. This follows a shutdown of Radio Era’s FM transmitter in Crimea on March 9.
RFE/RL Editor-in-Chief Nenad Pejic condemned the Radio Era FM takeover, stating that “millions of Ukrainian citizens are being deprived of access to accurate, verifiable information about what is happening around them, at a crucial juncture in their lives. The seizure of Radio Era FM’s transmitter is a deplorable violation of the universal right to freedom of opinion and expression.”
Voice of America is also experiencing disruptions to its programming in the area. Channel 5, which broadcasts the VOA Ukrainian Service news program Chas-Time, has lost its terrestrial signal in several cities in the eastern part of the country, including Donetsk and Luhansk. According to Channel 5, several cable providers in the region have also been threatened, potentially further disrupting distribution via cable.
Despite the increasingly dangerous environment for reporters in the region, VOA and RFE/RL have been providing much-needed news and information. Threats to journalists in Ukraine have been escalating, and on May 1, an RFE/RL video crew was attacked while covering a demonstration in Kharkiv.
On May 2, masked, angry men carrying knives and axes threatened two VOA video reporters in Donetsk. In addition, a VOA reporter working in the Donetsk area returned to Kyiv for a few days after being warned that he was on a “snatch list” of journalists targeted for capture. He has since returned to Donetsk. (Source: Press release)
12 May 2014
The BBC’s independent commentary and analysis of current affairs is now available directly to viewers in Ukraine thanks to a partnership between BBC World Service and Ukraine’s most popular TV channel, 1+1.
From the heart of the BBC’s news operation at New Broadcasting House in London, BBC Ukrainian (BBC Україна) journalists will appear live on the channel’s prime-time evening news programme, TSN, at 19.30 on Mondays and Wednesdays, providing 1+1 viewers with international perspective of current regional events as well as analysis of UK and global developments.
BBC Ukrainian has a number of partnerships with major news websites in Ukraine. This is the first collaboration with a TV channel. BBC World Service Europe Hub Editor, Artyom Liss, comments: “The popularity of BBC Ukrainian had been growing steadily, with audiences coming to the bbc.ua website for unbiased, balanced and reliable news, interviews and analysis. It’s great that, through collaboration with a TV channel such as 1+1, our journalists will be engaging with new audiences across Ukraine.”
Frederick Durman, Head of Business Development for Europe, BBC World Service, adds: ““We are really excited that our partnership with 1+1 will bring BBC Ukrainian to a wide audience at this critical time in Ukraine’s history.”
“TSN is the leading news programme in Ukraine, our anchors and journalists receive the most prestigious professional awards every year. Still, such collaboration for us is a great honor as BBC is the trendsetter in international news world and a golden standard for journalists. We aim to amaze our viewers, and I’m sure that the BBC input will add to our programme’s attractiveness,” – adds Sergiy Popov, Head of the Information Department of 1+1 Media.
The BBC Ukrainian website bbc.ua brings news stories, reports and features, picture galleries as well as audio and video content delivered by its journalists in Ukraine, Russia and the UK, as well as the BBC’s unparalleled global newsgathering operation. The Special Projects index on bbc.ua features BBC Ukraine’s editorial initiatives and special reports, while the dedicated index, Ukraine, offers news and information focusing on the country. Major, quickly developing events are covered on Live pages – an innovative tool of online journalism, which reflects news updates in real time. The BBC College of Journalism section shares the BBC’s guidelines on the use of unbiased language and style when reporting for TV, radio and online.
BBC Ukrainian is part of BBC World Service. (Source: Press release)
25 April 2014
News from the BBC Hausa service is now available via BBMTM in Nigeria, thanks to collaboration between BBC World Service and BlackBerry. Subscribers to the service will receive up to five BBC Hausa news alerts daily, each with shareable story links, with users able to engage with the BBC by sharing their comments and story ideas.
The launch of the BBC Hausa news content via BBM is part of the BBC’s ground-breaking move to see how “chat apps” could be used to deliver its content to, and engage with, a wider demographic of users. The app fits organically in the BBC Hausa offer as the service operates on a “mobile-first” basis, with its online content primarily optimised to be viewed on mobile phones.
Trushar Barot, Assistant Editor for the Social Media Hub at BBC News, says: “We had been speaking to BlackBerry for a few months about their plans to develop their BBM product. We were keen to try and find a BBC service that we felt would be a good fit to test the service. Many Nigerians use BBM, with consumption of news content on mobile phones also very high, so linking up with the BBC Hausa service felt like the right choice.”
BBC Hausa Editor Mansur Liman adds: “With over 96% of the traffic to the bbchausa.com website coming to its mobile version, BBC Hausa has prioritised its mobile offer as our key platform to reach our audiences. The launch of the BBC Hausa BBM in Nigeria – our biggest market – is a great development which will allow us to tap into new audiences, and also create a very simple, cheap and immediate way of connecting us with our users there.”
To connect to the account, subscribers will need to download the latest version of BBM (available on iOS and Android, as well as on BlackBerry handsets) and search for ‘BBC Hausa’ from the ‘Channels’ tab. Alternatively, users can connect via the BBM PIN: C00334DDD. Links to the BBC Hausa BBM channel will also be available via the website bbchausa.com and via the mobile website BBM.com/bbchausa.
BBC Hausa is part of BBC World Service. (Source: Press release)
25 April 2014
Japan International Broadcasting (http://www.jibtv.com/), the distribution company of NHK, and MEDIA BROADCAST (http://www.media-broadcast.com/en/homepage.html), the leading service provider for the broadcast and media industries in Germany, have announced a new partnership which brings NHK WORLD TV (www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/) to all HbbTV-enabled devices with DTT reception in Berlin. The stand-alone, 24-hour, English-language television news and lifestyle network produced by NHK, Japan’s sole public, independent broadcaster, launched on Saturday, March 15, 2014 and uses MEDIA BROADCAST’s hybrid TV service, multithek, for transmission.
“MEDIA BROADCAST is a well-regarded, globally established broadcast and media company,” said Yoshihiko Shimizu, president and CEO, Japan International Broadcasting. “We are delighted to be working with them to deliver NHK WORLD TV to Berlin, the capital city of Germany and one of the most influential and vibrant markets in the world.”
NHK WORLD TV provides a 24-hour programming cycle, including the network’s news show, “NEWSLINE.” The objective reporting, particularly in economic news originating from Asia with programs such as “ASIA BIZ FORECAST”, “Asia This Week”, and “ASIAN VOICES” provides balance for a more comprehensive perspective on world financial affairs. The channel also offers a variety of lifestyle and cultural shows, including “TOKYO FASHION EXPRESS”, “Asia Insight”, “J-Architect”, “cool japan” and “BEGIN Japanology”, as well as an assortment of documentaries and specials.
NHK WORLD TV is currently available in 275 million households across 140 countries and regions. (Source: Press release)
