Al Jazeera teases streaming service
Qatar-based Al Jazeera Media Networks has unveiled details of its new global streaming platform, with a plan to target the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in its first phase.
Free Arab-language service Al Jazeera 360, which is due to launch between the end of this year and early 2024, is being dubbed the ‘next big thing’ in the Arab world since the launch of Al Jazeera itself back in 1996.
Details of the service were revealed yesterday by Jamal Elshayyal, manager of content strategy for OTT platforms at Al Jazeera, at the second edition of its documentary pitching forum event called Industry Days @ AJB Doc, which is held as part of the annual Al Jazeera Balkans Documentary film Festival in Sarajevo.
“Al Jazeera is establishing the first Arab-language streaming service in the world for news and information content,” said Elshayyal.
The new service will launch first in Arabic, with English- and Balkan-language versions to follow in the course of 2024.
Al Jazeera 360 will be available on all devices as a free service but requiring registration, and will offer a mix of on-demand and live-streaming options.
A core aim will be to increase its reach and retention of younger audiences. For Al Jazeera, which is also present across digital platforms like YouTube and other social media, changes in consumer behaviour towards streaming have forced news and information service such as Al Jazeera to evolve in order to compete with the vast choice of news and information available, said Elshayyal.
Al Jazeera currently has a global audience of 473.5 million Arabic-speaking subscribers and generates 66 billion views. Its core target is the 18-34 demographic, which currently accounts for over 50% of viewers on digital platforms.
A particular target in this first phase will be the MENA region, including North Africa, which other pan-Arab media are not focusing on, said Elshayyal.
The service will initially launch with 10,000 hours of content harvested from Al Jazeera’s inventory of current affairs and documentaries, as well as its own slate of new originals. The focus is human stories across a range of genres, from investigative current affairs, debate shows and documentaries to political satire and lighter factual, such as travelogues and culture shows. One of its new series strands is Victims and Heroes and in-house-produced film Day in the Life of a Fighter.
The service will also offer a new opportunity and scope for international documentary producers looking to coproduce and pitch shows that align with its values and are relevant to its audiences, said Elshayyal.
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