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THE CNN BRAND: KEY FACTS

CNN launched on 1 June 1980 with one TV network, 10 bureaux and 225 staff available to 1.7 million homes.

Today there are 26 CNN brand extensions worldwide, on television, the Internet, radio and mobile services, delivering the brand to one billion people around the world in six different languages.

Since its launch, CNN has evolved from a comprehensive, acclaimed American news service into a worldwide brand that offers targeted regionalised services to international audiences worldwide.

Worldwide, CNN has almost 4,000 staff, 37 newsgathering bureaux, almost 1,000 affiliates and seven production centres, including fully integrated television and internet newsrooms in London, Hong Kong and Mexico City.

Journalists from more than 50 different countries are based at CNN’s Atlanta headquarters, in addition to a wide variety of nationalities who work for CNN’s worldwide network of offices and bureaux

Regionalisation of CNN International programming was launched in September 1997. Regionalised programming is now available on five separately scheduled English language CNN channels - Europe/Middle East/Africa, Asia Pacific, South Asia, Latin America, and North America.

In addition to the CNN International English language television networks, CNN offers local-language services in Spanish (CNN+) and Turkish (CNN Turk). It also has a 50% stake in the German 24-hour news broadcaster, n-tv, along with RTL.

‘Breaking News’ is CNN’s trademark on all media platforms. The tailored schedules on the international networks, which include a wealth of news documentary and feature programming, are brought together within seconds of a major story breaking.

Televisions

The 10 CNN television networks and services are available to more than 260 million households worldwide.

CNN International can be seen in more than 170 million households worldwide, including more than 107 million households in Europe/Middle East/Africa alone.

Nearly 90% of programmes on CNN International are exclusively produced for the international feeds. Only about 10% are derived from CNN/U.S.

The London and Hong Kong production centres produce almost 50% of CNN’s weekly international output, delivering more than 80 hours of programming every week.

CNN London, the biggest CNN bureau and production centre outside the U.S.A, produces and broadcasts more than 50 hours of programming a week. This includes four hours of early morning business programming featuring the live rolling news and business programme, ‘CNN Today’ and coverage of the world financial markets in three editions of ‘Business International’ and two editions of ‘World News Europe’ and ‘World Business Today’ - as well as 20 daily business updates and half an hour of sport in ‘World Sport’.

In London CNN broadcasts from state of the art, purpose-built studios in a prime West End location. This multi-million pound real estate development opened in December 2001 and represents CNN’s commitment to its international operations. Along with the Hong Kong and Mexico City bureaux, the fully integrated television and internet newsrooms at CNN London, reflect the network’s development into a full multi-media brand.

CNNj launched to television audiences in Japan in March 2003 with a combination of programming from CNN/US, CNNfn, the financial news network, and CNN International. The language used on CNNj is English but Japanese translation is available 18 hours a day, provided by the local distribution partner, JCTV. There are two tracks available to the viewer so they can choose - either the English original or Japanese translation.

There are more than 20 different nationalities in CNN International’s team of on air anchors and correspondents.

New Media

The CNN portfolio of web sites includes the award-winning CNN.com; CNN.com international edition; CNN Money, a unit of CNN Financial News; CNNSI.com, a joint sports site with ‘Sports Illustrated’.

CNN.com international edition is a world news and business web site, launched in February 2003. Edited in London, Hong Kong, Sydney and Atlanta, this site delivers up to the minute information on global events from both an international and regional perspective. It includes separate sections for in-depth Asian and European news.

The CNN web sites generate an average monthly traffic of more than one billion page impressions around the world every month. In 2003 the CNN web sites served 19.3 billion page impressions, showing an increase of more than 3 billion on 2002 and more than double the traffic served in 2000.

CNN operates four local-language news sites: CNNenEspañol.com (Spanish), Ntv.de (German), CNN.co.jp (Japanese) and CNNArabic.com.

Record site traffic was recorded around the world on CNN’s web sites when terrorists attacked the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in the US, breaking all previous records. Nearly 340 million page impressions were served on September 12, 2001 – more than twice the previous record, set on November 8, 2000 in the aftermath of the US elections.

On Thursday 20 March 2003, the first full day of the Iraqi conflict, CNN registered 236 million page impressions worldwide, the second highest level of traffic ever for CNN. Traffic remained high on Friday March 21, registering as the fourth highest day, with 183 million page impressions.

The war in Iraq generated specific growth on CNN’s international sites, with the highest ever traffic on CNNArabic.com, CNN’s Arabic language site, which increased by over 60% on a daily basis in the first days of the conflict. The international edition also registered record traffic at this time with an increase of over 60% on Wednesday and a further 100% on Thursday March 20.

CNN Mobile, CNN's international service for mobile devices, launched in 1999 as the first mobile telephone news and information service available globally with targeted regional content. The service now delivers CNN news content to mobile phones in a number of formats, including SMS, WAP, PartnerML for Vodafone Live, XHTML, cHTML for i-mode devices and a java news service which features CNN.com's top 10 stories, complete with photos and a scrolling ticker.

In 2004 CNN launched a streaming service for mobile phones, delivering CNN International live to UMTS mobile phones with partner operators.

Research

2004’s European Media & Marketing Survey (EMS) confirms CNN’s position as the pan-European market leader in television news in all measurements, with a monthly reach of 34.7% (Euronews 27.1%, BBC World 20.1%, CNBC 13.0%). CNN’s daily reach has grown in percentage points more than any other pan-European news channel year-on-year. Its leading position is strengthened further amongst the upscale EMS Select audience (top 3% of adults in Europe, measured for the first time in 2004).

CNN’s leading position is further confirmed by the Europe 2004 (July) research findings, reaching 40.3% of Europe’s high-earners and opinion-formers every month (Euronews 27.7%, BBC World 27.0%, CNBC 15.6%). CNN is perceived as the leading news channel in keeping news viewers up-to-date, not just on breaking news but also with in-depth coverage, current affairs and business and finance, recording for example 42.9% as the channel you would expect to be the first to break international news, compared with nearest competitor BBC World at 8.8%. 30.4% chose CNN as the most important channel for keeping them informed about world news and events, compared with nearest competitor BBC World at 12.3%.

CNN is the number one news channel for reaching frequent business air travellers, CEOs, top international decision makers and opinion formers, according to both EMS and Europe 2004.

Europe 2004 confirmed CNN.com’s position as the number one news website in monthly reach (11%), with the next closest website, the FT, recording a monthly reach of 7.7%, with EMS and EMS Select respondents also rating CNN.com as the number one visited news website.

In the Global Capital Markets Survey (GCMS, October 2003) CNN International leads all international news channels in key measurements on both a global and European basis. Europe-wide, CNN reaches 72% of financial managers and senior executives in banks and financial institutions on a monthly basis (Bloomberg 50%, BBC World 50%, CNBC 45%.) The figure rises to 75% on a global basis, which represents nearly 40% more respondents than CNN’s nearest competitor.

In the first European Opinion Leaders Survey, EOLS, (September 2003) to monitor TV data, CNN is the clear leader in all measurements. These include a 30.1% daily reach (BBC World 20.3%, Euronews 18%, CNBC 4.2%, Bloomberg 3.9%); a weekly reach of 49.6% (BBC World 35.4%, Euronews 31.5%, CNBC 9.3%, Bloomberg 8.5%); and a monthly reach (59.7%) for CNN which is almost equivalent to the combined monthly reach of all other international news channels (62.6%). In addition, CNN is considered to be the channel that keeps most viewers ‘well informed’, above all other pan-European media at 24.8%, and retains its lead on being ‘up to the minute’ at 28%.

A 2004 IPSOS Stat survey of the Middle East ranked CNN as the number one international news channel, reaching double the number of viewers in a typical week than BBC World, and three times the viewers of BBC World in peak morning and evening day parts.