BBC News Swahili in Tanzania has a deep and rich history. Having started with radio nearly 70 years old, their impact on the Swahili media landscape is profound. Five decades later, in 2012, they started their TV broadcast and, in the mid-2000s, they launched their Web site.

“The way that it started, it was pretty much an offshoot of radio,” Athuman Mtulya, senior news editor at BBC News Swahili, told attendees of INMA Africa’s Newsroom Transformation Summit. “You have people putting their radio script there. So slowly it developed into the digital desk that we have today.”

Digital evolution

In 2015, BBC News Swahili started putting major resources behind its digital desk. That desk, in conjunction with its radio history and massive TV loyalty, has evolved significantly. However, the thing about evolution is it never stops.

The team knew the company’s digital products needed to compete with how younger audiences and even older ones were consuming not just news, but music, TV, and other media in general. They took a tip from watching how children interact with cartoons.

“And the key thing that we noticed, and this is around 5 years ago, we learned that there was power for them to rewind,” Mtulya said. “If there’s something that interests them or if it is boring, they can forward it or they can change it, they can close it completely, and they can go to another cartoon for that matter.”

Applying this concept to news consumption, they know time is most valuable. And if an online article isn’t interesting or engaging for the audience, a reader will move on to something else. 

Another consideration specific to Africa is that Internet access can be very expensive. If people are going to pay for the connection, they want the content to be of value. That value, they know, is not the same across all platforms. 

“Don’t expect simply because the video works better for TV, it’ll work the same for TikTok or for YouTube or for Instagram,” Mtulya said. “So you have to learn that these platforms are different and the users are different as well. It is an ever-changing game.” 

Depending on real-time analytics and insights to inform what does work for them, BBC News Swahili knows that “update me” stories don’t work well because audiences in key markets like Tanzania and Kenya rely on local media that are better equipped and resourced to cover local stories. However, big events that happen outside of key markets do work for them in areas where they have resources.

Audiences are generally going to BBC News Swahili for perspective pieces and stories that inspire their people. As they look at their insights, they pay close attention to the difference between reach and valuable reach.

“On Instagram, we have four million subscribers,” Mtulya said. “Say, for instance, you have 500,000 eyeballs on one video. That’s a good number, but how much of that 500K stayed with you?”

They look to see how much of their audience bailed on the video in the first 10 seconds and try to figure out why. They also are careful not to post content that doesn’t serve their brand identity, loyalty or equity.

“We have an identity to protect,” Mtulya said. “These analytics have to inform our editorial decisions. If we don’t see editorial value in the trending topic, then we’re not going to do it. Or we can look at it and see how we can reshape this massive discussion for people to get value out of it.”

Focus on video, TikTok

As BBC News Swahili grew its digital footprint, they went from a Web site, Twitter, and Facebook to YouTube, and, within the last four weeks, TikTok.

“Because of that, our digital workforce has tripled in the last decade,” Mtulya said. “In our recruitment right now, we are really keen on people that can be multimedia.”

Launching on TikTok has completely changed their entire video production strategy.

“We had to learn the TikTok algorithm, which they are really unforgiving,” Mtulya said. “They require consistency.”

The newsroom rearranged its digital desk and had to revitalise their video offerings. They took two weeks to train staff on the new strategy and re-equip people to produce simple, off-the-cuff videos. Until that point, they were focused on TV first or YouTube first visuals. They also know they'll have to evolve again before too long.

“The ways that these algorithms are changing, what is considered best practise in January, might no longer be the best practise in June. And what will change in June might not necessarily still be the same practise by December,” Mtulya said. 

Even just four weeks into their TikTok launch, BBC News Swahili is experiencing signs of significant growth.

“We’ve been publishing one video a day and we have two videos with nearly one million pageviews,” Mtulya said. “So we are learning a lot, and we are learning how to retain our audiences.”

One big insight they’re learning is this: No matter the platform, important news is important news. BBC News Swahili knows the biggest story for them right now is the conflict in the Eastern DRC. 

“Out of our audiences, whether on radio or TikTok, they want more perspective reports about that conflict. So this tells us, yes, the reports might differ in their presentation, they might differ in the way that they've been packaged, but still, even this very young audience that we have on TikTok yearn for perspective reports about this conflict and other news content.”

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