Last week BBC World quietly launched a dedicated news and information ‘channel’ on YouTube, which is now available to millions of internet users across the world, but not in the UK. Every day the BBC makes around 30 news clips available.
The first people to visit the channel are watching a wide range of news stories. The top five ‘most watched’ news clips of the past week were, ‘Meles Zenawi on HARDtalk’, ‘Escaped Orangutan wreaks havoc’, ‘Cannes premiere for Ocean’s 13’, ‘Russian pro-gay rally arrests’ and ‘Tom Jones on HARDtalk’.
Michele Grant, senior vice president, BBC Global News Development said in a prepared statement: “The BBC has more journalists in more places than any other broadcast news organisation in the world. As part of our mission to find new ways to engage audiences around the world, we are delighted to be able to offer a dedicated BBC World News channel on YouTube that gives viewers the freedom to see our first-hand reporting whenever they want.”
The launch of the BBC World News channel, on the leading online video platform, is part of a non-exclusive partnership between the BBC, BBC Worldwide and YouTube to create BBC branded channels online, and is part of the BBC’s commitment to reach audiences in new ways.