Middle East

DW partners from across the Arab world met in Tunis, Tunisia, with 17 CEOs and program directors of leading broadcasters and online portals from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Oman, Qatar and Tunisia participating. Representatives from DW’s Middle East/ North Africa distribution met with long-term partners and we able to find opportunities for increased cooperation. The largest Jordanian online news portal, Alwakeel News, is now a DW Facebook partner with 3.3 million users in Jordan and DW will also be providing full text content for highly-popular Egyptian online news portal, Almasry Alyoum. For television, a partial re-broadcasting contract was negotiated with Yemen TV.

Africa

Representatives from DW met with 13 radio and online partners of DW Portuguese for Africa in Nampula, Mozambique. The partners were especially pleased about the interactive rubric, Espaço do Ouvinte, which allows for listener commentary and the educational series, Learning by Ear. Numerous partners expressed interested in rebroadcasting older episodes that highlight political participation to complement the upcoming elections in Mozambique. Partners were also interested in developing journalism training programs with DW Akademie.

DW has three new partners in Kenya. Television Cosmopolitan and Health TV Africa will acquire part of the programming line-up from the English channel, DW. News and magazine radio formats from DW Kiswahili will also be broadcast by Radio Mambo. DW is also increasing radio presence in Tanzania. Links to DW Kiswahili are being integrated into the website of local station partner, Fadeco. Tumbatu Community Radio, which was created in cooperation with UNESCO, is now broadcasting DW’s complete Kiswahili radio program. In Uganda, Smart FM, will be broadcasting the English radio programs Africa Link and news once a day from Monday to Friday.

Asia

DW content in Bengali, Hindi, English and Urdu is now available on the popular Indian news App, NewsHunt. NewsHunt is a cross-platform news aggregator briging together content from over from over 100 news sources in 11 languages spoken in India. By its own estimates, 50 million users have installed the App and it is the most used App in India after WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube. It can also be used in website format.

DW has a new cable television partner in Vietnam. The cable provider VGN is now carrying DW Asien. VGN provides international television to foreigners living in Vietnam.

In Sahiwal in the Punjab region of Pakistan, around 30,000 households are now being provided with DW via a new Pakistani broadcasting partner, New Geo Cable Network.

Europe

DW’s European distribution have collaborated with Britain’s elite Cambridge University to provide students with a wide-array of DW resources for learning German, available now on the university’s website. A similar arrangement provides students at the University of Nottingham with an online learning platform composed of DW’s language learning resources.

For a half-century DW has delivered quality news and information to Hausa speaking audiences in West Africa. To celebrate the occasion, a delegation of directors and editors from DW traveled to Niamey, Niger and Abuja, Nigeria to meet with local leaders and media representatives. Highlights of the events included keynote speeches and discussions centered on the role of international media in Africa and what can be done to assist with human rights and conflict resolution.  DW has been praised for providing a voice of freedom in times of political struggle as well as providing an example for the local media to follow. “We can’t always trust our own media,” said a representative from Dallol FM, a local radio station.

As one of the few international broadcasters with Hausa content tailored for local populations, DW plays a unique role in helping people improve their lives by providing them with a world-class news service alongside programming that advocates learning. A new part of this mission is Crossroads Generation, the latest series from the successful educational radio program, Learning by Ear. The new series was presented at both locations and received much acclaim. “With its educational programming and informative broadcasting, DW makes an essential contribution to education in Niger,” said Brigi Rafini, Prime Minsiter of Niger at the meeting in Niamey.

DW will also be seeking to expand its services for African audiences that comprise more than half of DW’s total global audience of 100 million.  “Deutsche Welle has been a large part of the media landscape in Africa for decades where we are seen as a reliable source of information” said DW Director General, Peter Limbourg, “Africa is a successful market for DW with excellent prospects.”

Guest commentary

Maja Braun, Coordinating Editor, Programs for Africa

Along with providing global audiences with quality news and information, we think international broadcasters should also be responsible for education, especially on social issues and topics that are a part of what Deutsche Welle stands for, such as democracy, civil rights and intercultural dialogue. And that is why we are always looking for new, innovative ways to make education work in different regions around the world – like, for example, in Africa.

Unlike other regions around the globe that have seen FM, shortwave and AM lose tremendous amounts of users in the last 15 years, radio has remained very important to people in Africa looking for information. It’s a big part of the media landscape and continues to draw listeners week in and week out. We have also seen a huge boom in mobile usage – the number of subscribers has increased by at least 20 percent in each of the last five years.

When we first developed Learning by Ear in 2008, we wanted to give young Africans – even those who cannot read or access the Internet – the opportunity to get information on important issues that would improve their lives immediately and in the future. It was important for listeners to learn, but we also wanted to keep them entertained. That is why we mainly use radio dramas to deliver the message of topics that are not taught in school.  Learning by Ear now plays a big role in the lives of many young people in Africa, offering radio dramas and feature stories on a variety of topics, ranging from political and societal issues to economic, health and environmental issues.

By working with mobile partners in Africa in the last few years, we have also been able to reach out to a new demographic and, hopefully, increase the level of social education among their customers. The unique, audio-based content is split up into individual series and segments – which makes it great for mobile consumption.

After five years and 42 different series with ten episodes each covering everything from health and hygiene to globalization, entrepreneurs and African success stories, we felt it was time for a change. We wanted to improve on the already successful format by providing a narrative that would help these young listeners in their daily lives; a story which accompanies them throughout the year instead of changing the scene every ten weeks.

With Crossroads Generation, we have created a Learning by Ear series which follows four characters as they confront challenges and learn from their mistakes. Listeners can get to know the characters better and will be more invested in what happens to them on the show. The episodes will deal with many issues simultaneously and the storyline will build on itself throughout the season.

The new format will also inspire young listeners to reflect on what they’ve heard and form their own opinions. One episode for example confronts teenage pregnancy and the actress decides to have an abortion. This decision is presented in a non-judgmental manner that allows for listeners to decide where they stand for themselves. There will also be a discussion platform available on Facebook where the audience can voice their ideas and opinions.

Other improvements include an online video-blog that will accompany every second episode and also adds a visual flavor to the series for the first time. The audience gets a look  behind the scenes and insight into how the characters feel. The video-blog will be included on the website and Facebook page. Their will also be a Learning by Ear theme song featured in each of the program’s six languages.

We are hoping that with this new series, we will be able to win over even more listeners and give them insights into how to help shape their own lives to be successful.

 

Latin America
DW’s distribution team has added over 30 new partners from five countries in Latin America after a large television trade show in Colombia. Since February 2012 the team has also succeeded in more than doubling the number of programs acquired from local partners, including the much in-demand program Visión Futuro. This constantly expanding cooperation should continue to open new doors for DW in the region.

Asia
DW’s marketing campaign in Afghanistan for Learning by Ear has been a huge success. Interest far exceeded expectations with over 2 million calls within a few weeks. The target audience was drawn in by well-directed strategies like an animated TV spot along with a print and text messaging campaign that conveyed the value of DW’s free on-demand programming.

Africa
Content from DW will now be available on the very popular Pan-African online news and information platform AllAfrica, which offers content in French and English from over 130 news sites coming out of almost every African country. DW’s regionalized content for Africa will become a part of AllAfrica’s commitment to quality journalism that seeks to promote learning and political awareness.

Online
A new language has joined DW’s multimedia catalog. Ukrainian was added to the audio, video and photo content of DW’s online Media Center in March. DW’s Media Center now offers content in a total of 15 languages.

Deutsche Welle (DW) is making its Learning by Ear service even more accessible to listeners in Afghanistan by providing content to mobiles with partner Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC). With more than 17 million mobile phone owners in Afghanistan, the cooperation with AWCC will help to expand the reach of DW’s hit educational program.

“This new service appeals to a younger, more mobile target audience,” says Anne Hufnagel, Head of Distribution for Asia at DW. “We expect and are looking forward to a significant increase in the number of listeners.”

Mobile users in Afghanistan just have to dial 1020 which will take them to an audio menu. They will then have the choice to listen to the Learning by Ear episodes in either Dari or Pashto on-demand. The service is free of charge and currently offers 10 episodes of “Becoming Afghanistan’s Superstar”, a program that showcases the extraordinary story about a young girl who struggles to participate in Afghanistan’s song contest.

Learning by Ear has been broadcast with support from the German Federal Foreign Office in Afghanistan since 2009. With partners like Ariana Radio and Radio Nawa, the series has become popular for young adults and teens. The new Learning by Ear mobile service will be promoted through a text message campaign, print ads and daily spots on television and radio.