News Broadcasting
BBC Arabic launches an online marketing campaign
MUMBAI: BBC World Service has announced that following the success of BBC Arabic’s interactive road show Your future… who decides it? in North Africa and the Middle East earlier this year, it has launched an online marketing campaign promoting its latest way of connecting with audiences – a BBC Arabic e-newsletter.
Entitled Be the first to know, the ad campaign aims to reach 19 million online users with advertisements appearing on a number of key pan-Arab websites including MSN Arabia – Hotmail and Messenger, Yahoo, and Ebay.
Be the first to know promotes the new monthly, free BBC Arabic language e- newsletter. Subscribers get an insider’s view of the most popular and trusted non-Arab news broadcaster in the Middle East and North Africa.
They receive a monthly update on the programmes and special features coming up, have an opportunity to share their views and opinions with online debates and polls and get behind-the-scenes insights of BBC Arabic with profiles on their favourite presenters and backgrounds on the top stories.
There are also opportunities to link with debates on bbcarabic.com and to enter a variety of competitions with a range of exciting prizes.
BBC World Service marketing, communications and audiences Controller Alan Booth says that the BBC Arabic e-newsletter is a way of connecting with young people in the Middle East. “We met over quarter of a million people through Your future… who decides it? Over 33,000 gave us their names for further contacts,” he says.
“They are passionate about the news and events that affect their lives – and the lives of friends and family at home and around the world. The BBC Arabic e-newsletter ensures they can follow news events through BBC Arabic coverage on radio and online and prompts opportunities to express their views.
“We also know young people are already using the Internet, which is why we are using online advertising for Be the first to know.”
BBC World Service used Amman-based design agency Mint to produce creative work for the campaign. The London-based specialist online agency Agency Republic planned and bought the advertising space. Database management and email marketing services will be managed by Broadsystem based in London. Subscriptions will be driven via a dedicated page on bbcarabic.com.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
