The first bit of big news for 2021 arrived early, with the Capitol riot in Washington, an event seen by many as nothing short of an attack on Americans’ hallowed democracy. With that, Al Jazeera English Online was put on notice that the second year of the pandemic would be a big one. To which we responded with gusto.
From reporting on the attack by pro-Trump Proud Boys and far-right militias and the rise of Omicron, to Israelis bombing Palestinians and the resurgence of the Taliban, AJE Online was there.
In the process, we grew by almost one-third, with 340 million users visiting our site in 2021, and with nearly half-a-billion pageviews. We also made a point of offering more content variety, something that paid off when our female audience grew by more than one-quarter.
And we did it all by investing in ourselves, by hiring more correspondents, by creating new content. Our Data Journalism team and Economy units both grew. From our podcast sector to our columnists, we invested in being able to tell the news well, and in a timely fashion.
It’s the sort of quality journalism that we at Al Jazeera English Online believe will ensure our continued growth and excellence.
If anyone thought that 2020, the Year of the Pandemic, couldn’t be topped news-wise, then 2021 didn’t waste any time in disabusing us of that little fiction, starting as it did with a bang on January 6th, and ending with Omicron and an eerie feeling of “oh-no, déjà vu”. But it’s for those reasons and more that people last year turned to Al Jazeera English Online like never before.
In addition to covering the US Capitol riot, and the many developments in Year II of the pandemic, AJE Online aggressively reported on the coup that toppled the government in Myanmar—and the deadly protests that followed. We kept our viewers abreast of developments as Israel bombed the Gaza Strip for 11 days straight, in a military campaign that included razing the tower that housed Jazeera’s own bureau. And, we were there when the Taliban rolled across Afghanistan and into Kabul, virtually unopposed, after 20 years of war—the longest in US history.
And we did it all while many of us worked remotely. Again.
What a year it’s been. But that hasn’t stopped us from doubling down on our original reporting by hiring five new correspondents in key locations—Beirut, Kabul, Tehran, Gaza and Jerusalem. We expanded our Data Journalism team, to boost our output and to be more responsive to news events. And, by popular demand, our Economy unit beefed up its native content.
Elsewhere, Slow Journalism launched a new podcast to showcase the best of our long-reads. We also executed a new op-ed strategy, bringing on regular columnists to provide quicker turnarounds on current affairs.
It paid off. In 2021, we grew by 29%, with 340 million users visiting our site, and with nearly half-a-billion pageviews. By diversifying our content offerings, we also managed to increase our female audience by 27% (based on 2019 as our benchmark because 2020 was a behemoth year that we consider an outlier).
We’ve also had many wins across our video products. Our flagship explainer series, Start Here, had a number of episodes go viral, both in terms of views and engagement. Their episode on the Taliban alone was watched more than 13 million times across platforms.
Meanwhile, the Newsfeed team took its responsiveness to a new level, pushing out a mix of relevant real-time clips, social videos as well as special series—including Remembering the Arab Spring, Project Force and a number of in-depth explainers. We launched a new environmental strand, Plan-it Green, that covers the solutions we need to help save what’s left of our planet.
We also launched a new TV programme, Portal, to showcase the best of our Digital content for an entirely different audience. It’s been picked up for three seasons. We are also expanding our Close Up brand to make it the home of all Digital short docs, not just observational films. It will now also include current affairs and special series.
Speaking of that behemoth year, 2020, we beat it on August 16 across the platforms, achieving our highest day of total views and follower growth across YouTube and Facebook since 2018. The Audience Development team also helped us double our social-referral traffic from 2020, and we’ve gained new followers through Apple News, reaching 59% more readers than last year.
And we’re not about to slow down. We’re expecting 2022 to be another big year. We have a major opportunity before us with special coverage of the FIFA World Cup hosted by Qatar, where we’re based. And there’s still much work to be done in strengthening loyalty and engagement among our readers and viewers, building out better experiences, lifting our reporting and pushing boundaries with innovative content.
But for now, we’d like to take a moment to celebrate the wins. If 2021 showed us anything, it’s that Al Jazeera English Online has the talent, resources and imagination to rise to the occasion—no matter what the news cycle throws at us.
