A Major Challenge for Al Jazeera America

Al Jazeera America signed on, replacing the well-intentioned but low-rated Current TV on August 20, 2013.  The channel is headquartered and run from studios in Manhattan, but has twelve bureaus around the U.S.

But talk about your tough sell.

 

With ten years and counting of continuing Middle Eastern conflicts,  I can imagine fewer electronic entities with more marketing hurdles to clear than an American version of a news network based in Qatar.

Yes, I know that the entire AJAM (as it's called) staff is American or at least, based in America, but I wonder whether or not blue or red-staters will wrap their arms around this competitor to flag-waving Fox News, left-of-center MSNBC or well-established CNN...to say nothing about ABC, CBS or NBC news.

During the past ten years, we've all hears a lot of praise for Al Jazeera as truly (excuse me) fair and balanced, despite its unavailability to most English-speakers.  So (as a DISH customer), I've now had a chance to spend the past week sampling and digesting hours of AJAM programming and was surprised at its temperature--decidedly lukewarm and unimpressive (so far).

Programmed as a news wheel with hour-long news segments broken up by domestic and international magazine shows, often repeated and fronted by British or Middle Eastern journalists, all unknown to me.
It may be based in New York, but a good way to lose viewers in Toledo or Birmingham is to have shows like Real Money with Ali Velshi or The Stream with Wajahat Ali.  I have high hopes for these shows, but I wonder if these are talent that some paranoid Americans will grow to trust.
I did watch a half-hour talking head show about the crime rate in Baltimore and am just getting back the feeling in my feet.

The set is large, but antiseptic and AJAM has the feel of a medium market US station putting on a newscast for the first time.  There seems to be no political agenda, but the storytelling will have to get a lot crisper to pull people away from any American news network.  Fair and balanced or not, it all comes down to great storytelling.

Like a newly-established sports league, they've landed a handful of second-tier network folks, such as Antonio Mora, John Seigenthaler, Joie Chen, Mike Viquiera, Sheila MacVicar and (a personal favorite) Soledad O'Brien, but most of the on-air staffers are from local stations.

I saw Seattle's own Rebecca Stevenson doing weather and she does a good job (except when she pronounced it Ne-VAH-dah.  Shame on you), but the weather set was decidedly thrown together quickly.
And sports?  Do they really need it?  With ESPN and the new FoxSports1, what I really want is Al Jazeera's analysis of the Patriots/Bears game.

But the one way AJAM is hitting it out of the park is in their on-air marketing.  Knowing it's a tough sell to Americans, look at the direction their creative is taking--focusing on the differences between Americans, how events affected them and how AL Jazeera is changing the way people look at news.  The spots are rotating all over DISH, and I imagine you might see them on Comcast or DirecTV.

I think they're stunning, and the certainly got me to watch and write this column.  Check them out.

There's More to It 1

There's More to It 2

There's More to It 3 (Composite)

If you're interested, here's a great NPR interview from this afternoon by Robert Siegel and Audie Cornish:  Al Jazeera America Will Have to Work Hard to Win Viewers

So, The Promo Code salutes our fellow marketers who are boldly going where a lot of us would fear to go...selling a perceived Middle Eastern news network to Americans still smarting after eleven years of war.
Their marketing has them off to a great start, and I hope their product rises to the promises made to cover the whole story with no bias.

Your competitors are tough, but welcome to the game, AJAM.  Your voice is welcome.  Your marketing is awesome.

--Rich Brase
redrich24@gmail.com

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