As sources of news continue to proliferate, international news channels are fighting harder than ever to retain their audience. Andy Fry reports.

It’s difficult to get away from the news these days. With TV, radio, online and mobile pumping out bulletins and updates round-the-clock, you have to try exceptionally hard to avoid knowing what’s going on in the world.

For TV channels, this presents a couple of obvious challenges. First, as a news provider, how do you make sure it is your brand that people turn to when they want to know what is happening? And second, how do you distinguish your position in the market from other news organisations?

Every platform

Stories like the suicide of fashion designer Alexander McQueen really underline the point. If you Googled his name from the UK the morning after his death, the top search result would have been from the LA Times. If you had linked to this site you’d have found a story packed with comments from networking site Twitter. How, then, do TV networks stop their audiences leaking away to other sources of information?

For international news network France24, the message is clear, says international distribution vice-president Philippe Rouxel. “You need to have a presence on every platform,” he says, “And you need to have a distinctive voice that offers audiences an alternative way to view the world.”

A publicly-funded network which draws heavily on the expertise of national broadcasters TF1 and France Télévisions, France 24 currently reaches 115 million TV homes worldwide in three languages: French, English and Arabic. But also important is the channel’s website, relaunched in October 2009 with a complete video archive, a pop-out where audiences can watch France 24 channels in HD and functionality which makes it possible to review the past 24 hours of programming. “We were also the first international news network to move into the mobile television space,” says Rouxel. “For us, one of the most important recent developments is a deal that takes us on to Japan’s leading mobile platform NTT DoCoMo, a move which gives us access to 45 million new users.”

Having access to people is only part of the story, however: “You also have to be able to offer them a unique perspective – because that is what will encourage audiences to come to you,” says Rouxel. “All of the major news channels provide news, business, sport and weather – but what really sets us apart is our French perspective.” This doesn’t mean that the channel is only targeting French expats, he stresses: “There is an Anglo-American view of world affairs which you see on CNN and BBC World News, and there is the Arabic perspective from Al Jazeera [see sidebar]. For us, there is an opportunity to present a different viewpoint while also emphasising all the things France is well-known for, such as its art, fashion, gastronomy and philosophy.”

In their own way, most of the general news networks are trying to do something similar to France 24. CNN International, for example, has established itself in 229 million homes around the world (as well as millions of hotel rooms, planes and businesses). But right now it is talking much more about the various ways in which it is going beyond standard distribution into the digital space.

Like France 24, CNN’s view is that upscale news viewers have become platform-agnostic in their habits – a belief that it says is borne out by the latest European Media and Marketing Survey (the research benchmark by which news channels measure the media habits and attitudes of Europe’s top earners and decision makers). The new EMS survey, according to CNN, shows that its target audiences now spend nearly one full day per week watching television (11 hours) and using the internet (12 hours). Not surprisingly, then, the channel has made much of the fact that its cross-platform reach exceeded that of its rivals in the EMS survey. With 20% of CNN’s audience engaging with the brand both on TV and online, CNNI managing director Tony Maddox called it “an emphatic validation of our multi-screen strategy to deliver compelling, intelligent coverage to our viewers, wherever they are.”

While the commercial return on such activities may not yet be clear, there’s no question that CNNI’s activities in this space are a good illustration of how news providers are responding to the reinvention of their business. In October 2009, for example, the company unveiled a re-vamped website with integrated video, customisation options and greater opportunities for its audience to be involved. Around the same time, it also launched a CNN app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, which it claims has been the number one paid news app since its launch (it is only in the US at present but rolling out this year). Furthermore, it has also launched a commercial self-service on-line storefront called CNN Wire Store that enables journalists, publishers and media organisations worldwide to license CNN story content from it directly.

More interaction

For Maddox, the crucial point about digital media is not just that it extends reach – but that it appeals to a younger demo and allows more interaction with news consumers: “Just as viewers want intelligent discussion and multiple perspectives, they also want to showcase their own diverse view,” says Maddox. “We’ve pulled out the stops to give our audience opportunities to play a role in the discussion, across TV, online and mobile.”

There are a couple of neat examples of this. First, there is the way CNN.com and Facebook linked up during CNN’s coverage of Barack Obama’s inauguration as US President (an event during which CNN.com served 1.3 million concurrent live streams). Key points to note from this exercise include the fact that Facebook was a top referrer to both CNN.com in the US and internationally. CNN claims the partnership was “a watershed for CNN.com offering unprecedented social community interaction.”

Just as interesting has been the growth of user-generated content platform iReport – which has around 477,000 registered ‘iReporters’. During the week following the recent earthquake in Haiti, CNN says social media played a huge role in providing coverage and in reuniting people with their families. Similarly, the election unrest in Iran last year generated 3,866 iReports in a week. Of these 131 were vetted and verified by CNN for use on-air or online.

Echoing France 24’s Rouxel, a number of networks are also looking at ways to achieve richer engagement with audiences through their core TV offering. Sky News, for example, is set to launch an HD version of its channel – part of a broad-based commitment by its parent company to drive HD uptake. Back at CNNI, meanwhile, 2009 saw the launch of a live interview show hosted by feted correspondent Christiane Amanpour. Broadcast from New York to CNN’s international market, the goal of the show is to reinforce CNN’s authority. Amid the 24/7 chatter of news, opinion and propaganda referred to above, CNN’s belief is that shows like Amanpour help it stand out: “Audiences want real intelligence, a broad diversity of views and genuine transparency,” explains Maddox. “Christiane is the embodiment of those values.”

There’s also been a significant on-the-ground investment, to counter the impression that CNNI is an overtly US operation. In November 2009, for example, the network launched a new production centre: CNN Abu Dhabi. It also created a new primetime programme for Middle Eastern viewers called Prism. CNN has, of course, been covering the Middle East for years. But the significance of this move is that it puts CNN in Al Jazeera’s backyard – a point not lost by Maddox who says “the establishment of a broadcast and production centre in the Middle East by CNN is a significant and unique move by a western news broadcaster. It gives us a powerful base from which to coordinate regional bureaus and showcase a new show.”
CNNI, France 24 and Al Jazeera all have their own fan-bases – as do the culturally-specific international news services provided by China and Russia’s state broadcasters. But in terms of reaching the non-aligned global audience, their big rival for eyeballs is BBC World News – a commercially-run subsidiary of UK pubcaster the BBC which reaches 299 million homes and 1.7 million hotel rooms worldwide. With 74 million viewers a week, the UK-backed channel uses the latest EMS survey to claim it has overtaken CNN across Europe, in both morning and evening slots. In the evening (19.00-22.00), for example, BBC World News cites an audience increase of 47% year on year from 119,000 to 175,000. CNN’s audience, meanwhile, rose 7,000 to 165,000. BBC World News is also expanding rapidly in India, where a distribution deal with Sun Direct gives it access to five million South India homes – taking total distribution in the world’s second-most populous market to 22 million.

Always on

As mentioned above, however, the threat to these services is not just from their immediate rivals but from the endless sea of news available from ever multiplying sources. BBC World News commercial director Colin Lawrence agrees that access to always-on news does represent a challenge for the big players. But it’s one he thinks BBC World News can cope with: “A lot of media commentators believe that most content will be available any time, anywhere, within five years. But in a world awash with news and information, who is telling you something is as important as they say?” With 75 years of history in the news business and 2,000 BBC staff providing a news gathering operation around the world, says Lawrence, “I think that the BBC provides the authenticity that news audiences increasingly seek.”

He acknowledges that it is impossible for news organisations to rest on their laurels. “We’ve been looking at how to take our news beyond the linear channel into on-demand and mobile. A good example of this came in 2009 when we launched live 3G and Wi-Fi streaming on iPhone and iPod Touch which allows users in 16 European countries to watch the channel live on their Apple devices. We’ve also developed our approach in the area of user-generated content and made the level of interaction between the audience and our presenters stronger. There’s an expectation among audiences these days that they will be able to engage directly with us.”

This latter point is evident in a “schedule refresh” that was unveiled in January, notable for the prominence given to onscreen talents including George Alagiah and Nik Gowing who, like CNN’s Amanpour, are given a more pivotal role in the line-up. Also significant is a greater emphasis on programmes that are timed and tailored to suit regional audiences around the world. Around lunchtime, for example, the emphasis is on delivering to Asia-Pacific audiences. But by mid-afternoon, the emphasis has moved to the Indian sub-continent, with Gowing’s The Hub serving as a news ‘nerve centre’ for South Asia. By 19.00 GMT the emphasis is firmly on news for EMEA viewers in World News Today with Zeinab Badawi. Just before midnight (23.45 GMT) the attention returns to Asia-Pacific, with a show called Asia Today that has just started broadcasting from the BBC’s Singapore news studio.

There have been other significant changes, says Lawrence. One is the creation of an entertainment news capsule – recognition that popular culture has now forced its way into the serious news agenda. While BBC World News’ staple diet is the economy and war, Lawrence and his colleagues have not overlooked the fact that one of their biggest audiences last year came from coverage of the death of Michael Jackson. Another nod in the direction of modern new consumption habits is the creation of “bite-size” four-minute editions of flagship programmes that air during the week. Here, the aim is to hit an audience that is too busy to dwell on a long-form show and to capture the band of ‘digital grazers’ that ‘multi-source’ their content. 

Business news

An important sub-division of the news sector is the two big business news channels, Bloomberg News and CNBC. While overlapping with the likes of CNN and BBC World News, both focus on the delivery of mission-critical business information to executives around the world.

Launched in 1990, Bloomberg is a real-time news service that provides coverage of companies, markets, industries, economies and governments – based on information gathered by 150 news bureaux. This information is provided as a professional product to market traders and as Bloomberg Television – an international TV network that adds depth and context to the news, data and analytics tools of the core service. While Bloomberg continues to chase the same revenue streams as its rivals (carriage fees, ad revenue, digital ancillary revenues), there have been important changes to the profile of the channel in the last year, says Brian Martinez, head of television operations in Europe and Asia for Bloomberg Television. “The major shift was to replace dedicated Bloomberg networks in Europe with an English-language global feed which we produce centrally,” he says: “That decision has enabled us to focus more resources on providing our audience with the best possible channel.”

As a knock-on from this decision, “we have extended the scope of the channel,” says Martinez. “Because it is no longer serving specific territories, the editorial profile has shifted from financial news to broader business news, the kind of things a global business leader needs to know.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, this change in editorial strategy has meant a great deal of focus on protecting existing platform partnerships – something that seems to have paid off. According to Martinez, Bloomberg Television has come through its repositioning with 145 million EMEA homes.

While the centralised English feed is now the company’s flagship, it is not the only way that Bloomberg Television reaches audiences. There are also local-language joint ventures with partners in Turkey and India. Although Martinez will not be drawn on future joint-venture plans, he says Bloomberg will evaluate similar partnership opportunities as they arise in local markets. One area where he shows a particular interest is the Asia-Pacific, where Bloomberg has a Hong Kong bureau providing coverage of mainland China.

In terms of new media, Martinez says that Bloomberg Television starts from a different position from its rivals in that it has grown out of an information-based service targeted at financial services professionals: “When you start out with those terminals as your first screen, then it is only logical that you extend across platforms like TV, online, iPhones and Blackberrys. That’s how Bloomberg will stay at the heart of the global financial and business conversation.”

The other key player in this space is CNBC – part of the same family as the NBC network in the US. Like CNN, CNBC has had to work hard to counter impressions that it is primarily aimed at Americans overseas, a job arguably made more important since the 2008 decision to drop the word Europe from its EMEA channel brand.

To some extent this has been achieved by creating an editorial opt-out for the UK from the generic channel feed. However there is a counter-argument to the demand for editorial regionalisation, which is that business leaders share pretty much the same strategic concerns the world over. Given the geographic mobility of executives these days, it’s reasonable to suggest they are more like each other in tastes and interests than many of their own co-nationals.

Luxury lifestyle

Editorially, the key shift at CNBC has been to stop viewing its audience simply as career professionals and start delivering content that reflects their lifestyle. Under the heading CNBC Life, the result has been greater emphasis on luxury lifestyle programming at weekends. Notable additions have been coverage of sports like golf, yachting and high-end equestrianism. There’s also the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Ultimate Boys’ Toys and travel shows like Journey Into Wine South Africa.

This is the exact opposite of Bloomberg’s decision to put more business news at weekends. So why? In part, it can be explained by the access to strong programming that CNBC has from within the parent group. But there is also an editorial rationale for this move that is neatly encapsulated by EMEA channel chief Mick Buckley, who says: “We help [our audience] earn during the week, so now we are helping them to spend at weekends.”

Over and above this, it’s also clear that the diversification of the CNBC schedule offers more opportunities for brand advertisers to get involved. While it hasn’t been the best of times to chase down brand advertising, there’s no question that this is where CNBC sees its best opportunity for growth in the medium-to-long term. In the UK, this explains why, in January 2010, the channel took the decision to make its signal free-to-air. While this obviously precludes any carriage revenues, it does increase channel distribution to 11 million UK homes.

In terms of commercial developments, an aggressive drive towards branded content/sponsorship has been at the heart of CNBC’s activities. A recent example of this was the decision by Credit Suisse to sponsor Executive Vision, a five-part series that explores the art of leadership through conversation with five seasoned CEOs. As part of the deal, Credit Suisse gets opening and closing billboards, break bumpers, 60-second Credit Suisse-branded vignettes from the series and also vignettes featuring Credit Suisse executives. Further integration of the sponsor into the show comes via a dedicated sponsored programme page on CNBC.com.
BBC World News has also gone some way down this road in search of revenues. But Lawrence seems to be placing more emphasis on subscriber-based revenues: “The commercial emphasis changes region by region. But we’re positioned firmly in the pay-TV space. A big priority for us is to work with platforms to create on-demand services that enhance the linear channel.” In other words, BBC World News is looking at ways to make itself indispensable to pay-TV platforms.

Of course, any incremental activity implies yet more expenditure – in a genre where costs are already high. So for news channel operators, this means carrying the cost burden, passing it on to the platform partner, or becoming ever more efficient. One channel where efficiency is at the heart of the proposition is Euronews, a channel that is now distributed to 248 million households in 135 countries. Of these, around 177 million are European cable, satellite and terrestrial homes, making it one of the most widely distributed channels across the region.

This has been achieved in two ways. Firstly, by providing platform partners with a no-frills service in which news programming is overlaid with voice-over narration in nine languages. Thus, by taking presenters and studios out of the equation, the rolling Euronews channel can deliver a low-cost proposition to its partners. Furthermore, because of the short-form nature of Euronews’ news content, it also lends itself to repurposing for digital platforms.

The second key point is that Euronews is owned and operated by a consortium of partners such as France Télévisions, Rai, RTR Russia and TRT Turkey. As a result it is able to share the newsgathering burden. Not only that, it also means that the Euronews brand can secure access to slots in free-to-air schedules – both in shareholder markets and in neighbouring territories. The involvement of RTR and TRT, for example, is surely one reason (in addition to cost) why Romania’s TVR2 and the Ukraine’s Channel One both run Euronews bulletins. Also in line for late 2010 is a Persian-language service.

Revenue generation

Of course, the issue of revenue generation and expenditure is a complex one in news. With the high cost of newsgathering, it’s clear in many cases that channels are viewed as something other than profit centres. This is clearly the case where there is some kind of government subsidy or agenda underpinning the operation. But even in the case of commercial channels, the question remains open. Is news about money-making, or is it a way of ensuring political influence? Is it a profit-centre in its own right, or a showcase designed to point business-to-business and business-to-consumer distributors towards other products?

With return-on-investment in mind, one of the most fascinating companies to watch right now is News Corp – one of the undisputed global leaders in cross-platform news provision. In terms of efficiencies, News Corp is creating a global content portal that will allow the sharing of resources across TV, print and digital outlets – thus streamlining the expensive process of newsgathering. Just as intriguing is chairman Rupert Murdoch’s plan to introduce new payment mechanisms this year to stop consumers accessing News Corp’s digital content for free. Unquestionably, Murdoch’s success (or otherwise) in this area will have ramifications for all news providers now that consumers move so fluidly between platforms.

Sidebar: The view from elsewhere: Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera’s emergence as a force in the news industry is as significant in its own way as that of CNN. Having burst onto the scene 12 years ago with its challenging coverage of Iraq and global terrorism, it has overcome early doubts about its credibility to become a global force.

“We’re now in 193 million homes,” says outgoing director, global distribution and licensing Phil Lawrie, a former CNN executive who joined Al Jazeera in 2007 and will depart this spring. “The urban myths about Al Jazeera have given way to a realisation that we offer a legitimate alternative perspective – one which places greater emphasis on the human side of the Middle Eastern conflict and more stories from the developing world. I think the fact that we are available in Israel says something about the reality of the service we provide.”

A major step forward came three years ago when Qatar-based Al Jazeera added an English feed, Al Jazeera English. “That has made it much easier for us to build our reach outside the Middle East and North Africa. While the Arabic feed has a role as a premium channel outside MENA, Al Jazeera English is the feed that has enabled us to secure broad-based distribution in markets including Canada and Australia, where we are now on Austar. A major aim now is to get a landing licence in India, because that could provide us a significant boost in terms of homes.”

Like its rivals, Al Jazeera is busy putting down roots in the digital space, says Lawrie. Recent developments include a new partnership that will see headline news delivered in English and Arabic across EMEA via a range of Sony Ericsson hand-held devices. However Lawrie stresses that the channel is also comfortable operating via technologies which are less advanced: “You have to tailor your offering to what the market can bear,” he says: “We have an extremely popular SMS service in sub-Saharan Africa which is accessed by 250,000 paying customers.”

Given the changes in the media landscape, how does he think Al Jazeera has fared? “Well, I actually think the fragmentation of media has benefited us. It was tough for us to get distribution in the early stage of Al Jazeera English’s rollout – so new media provided us with a way of connecting with audiences. We launched a dedicated YouTube channel which was great way to reach new young audiences.”

Lawrie acknowledges that Al Jazeera is not designed to be a 100% commercial operation, but this doesn’t mean it is complacent about revenue generation: “We don’t pursue ad revenue as aggressively as some of our rivals because that probably wouldn’t sit well alongside our editorial positioning. But where we can raise revenues to offset our public financing we do. Besides, our platform partners need to know how we can help them drive their revenues so we have to have a clear commercial focus.”

Having said all that, does he believe that mainstream distribution has in any way toned down Al Jazeera’s editorial approach? “I think the perception of Al Jazeera as a controversial network actually had a lot to do with the urban myths that grew up in the early years. But if you’re asking me about whether we are still providers of brave and challenging journalism then the answer is yes – because that is embedded in the channel’s DNA.”