MAM
BBC World Service’s first education HIV/Aids campaign
LONDON: The BBC World Service Trust, the charitable arm of the BBC, in partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation, a leader in health information and research, and media conglomerate Viacom, have, announced the launch of a year-long campaign. The aim is to combat the spread of HIV/Aids in Africa and the Caribbean and the campaign will commnece later this year.
This partnership will initiate the BBC World Service’s first-ever public education campaign tackling HIV/Aids in these two regions. Public education programmes and services produced under the partnership will be made available rights-free to other broadcasters. This collaboration builds on the success of the Viacom and Kaiser Family Foundation’s KNOW HIV/Aids campaign, which launched in the US this January.
The BBC World Service will begin broadcasts in October produced by seven BBC African language services – English for Africa, French for Africa, Portuguese for Africa, Hausa, Somali, Swahili and Kinyanwanda/Kirundi; as well as the BBC Caribbean service.
Short educational spots will be broadcast three times per day at peak listening hours. A five-minute special call-in segment will also be produced as part of the weekly English-language programme Postmark Africa. The reach of the World Service in Africa and the Caribbean, is as high as 30 per cent of the radio audience in certain countries.
A variety of longer format programmes will also be dedicated to HIV/Aids during the period of the campaign. The BBC World Service Trust, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Viacom will work jointly to explore opportunities for the production of extended format programming.
BBC World Service Trust director of health Roy Head said: “What’s exciting about this initiative is that major broadcasters are joining forces to take on Aids. The BBC reaches 50 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, and coupled with Viacom’s huge audiences across the US and Europe we can make a real difference. And if other big media players can follow suit, so much the better.’
An official release informs that Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, has the highest HIV/Aids prevalence rate of any region in the world. Nearly 30 million or 70 per cent of all those with the disease live in sub-Saharan Africa, with more new infections and AIDS deaths in 2002 than any other part of the world. The Caribbean has also been severely impacted and is the second-most affected region.
According to a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation the KNOW HIV/Aids campaign already has high visibility among Americans over 18. 44 per cent recognise the brand or have seen one of the messages, including higher percentages among target populations.
KNOW HIV/Aids campaign is a global media campaign that combats the menace through public service messages (PSAs), television and radio programming, and free print and online content. The multi-year effort combines the public health expertise of the Kaiser Family Foundation with the power of Viacom’s media brands and unmatched audience relationships to foster awareness of the disease and its prevention.
For the first year, Viacom committed in excess of $120 million in advertising across its television, radio and billboards in the US and around the world toward the initiative. Support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is helping to seed the international expansion of this initiative the release states.
Digital
OpenAI drops Sora AI video tool, ends planned $1 billion Disney deal
Pivot to coding and AGI leaves media giant rethinking AI tie-up plans
CALIFORNIA: In a move that has sent ripples through both Hollywood and Silicon Valley, OpenAI has pulled the plug on its much-hyped AI video tool Sora, abruptly ending what was shaping up to be a landmark partnership with The Walt Disney Company.
According to media reports, the decision came with little warning. Teams from both sides had been working on a Sora-linked project when the shutdown was communicated, catching even those close to the collaboration off guard.
The fallout is significant. The move effectively scraps a proposed $1 billion, three-year agreement that would have seen Disney invest in OpenAI while opening up access to its vast library of characters for AI-generated short-form video content. The deal, however, had not been finalised and no funds had changed hands.
Sora, unveiled in early 2024, had dazzled the industry with its ability to generate cinematic-quality video from simple text prompts, triggering a wave of competing launches from AI players across the United States and China. Its sudden exit marks a sharp turn in OpenAI’s strategy.
The company is now redirecting its focus towards more commercially scalable areas such as coding tools, enterprise solutions and the long-term pursuit of artificial general intelligence. Internally, resources required to run the video model are understood to have weighed on other priorities, accelerating the decision.
Leadership roles are also evolving to match the shift. Sam Altman continues to steer the broader vision, while Fidji Simo’s remit has been realigned towards deploying AGI capabilities as part of a wider push to consolidate offerings into a unified platform.
For Disney, the setback is more strategic than financial. The company is said to be evaluating alternative ways to collaborate with OpenAI, even as it recalibrates its approach to generative AI in storytelling.
For the wider industry, the episode is a reminder that in the fast-moving world of artificial intelligence, even the most dazzling innovations can have a surprisingly short shelf life.
