Being part of Al Jazeera Media Network, whose motto is “voice of the voiceless,” it was important for AJ+ Arabi to showcase the vast ethnic diversity and reach the social fabric of societies in the Arab world. Unknown to many, several ethnic minorities but also mythical sects have been calling this part of the world home for thousands of years. We wanted to make that visible and empower those voices even outside of the Middle East and North Africa. Some societies we examine and discuss (such as the “Order of Assassins”) are thought to be fables by many all over the world, and myths about them abound. Others, on the other hand (such as the large number of Bosniaks living across the Levant), are totally unknown to the wider public. Our aim was to make these societies visible but also empower them and amplify their voices. In addition, we wanted to produce dynamic and interactive news and human stories for social media users.
Explainer format has been a very successful format for us. We have conducted deep research on several occasions and were able to pinpoint which of the many dialects of the Arabic language, tone of voice, tempo, and speed work best in building trust with the audience. With that in mind, we opted for full animation, voice-over explainer videos as a vehicle for this series. We aimed to start conversations that would enable those voices to be further amplified and enable engagement with the wider public.
As the main publication platforms, we choose YouTube and Facebook. YouTube was chosen given the target audience’s relationship to it, where many see it as a place for longer viewing and a laid-back experience. It’s a platform they already resort to in order to learn and get informed. On the other hand, Facebook is the most used platform among the target demographics and the space where most conversations happen.
The series got more than 6 million views combined and reached an impressive number of more than 25 million people. The audience spent more than 53 thousand hours watching on YouTube alone. The conversations emanating from the content revealed just how unknown these ethnic and religious groups were and what a gap we have started to bridge.
