Euronews: Confronting the Revolution

Euronews: Confronting the revolution

Can a consortium of state broadcasters win the war for news viewers in the age of social media?

According to Michael Peters, Managing Director of Euronews began broadcasting on 1 January 1993 Euronews, the future of television news will be from Lyon and it was soon evident that its strategy turbulent: “We are all, in our industry, facing a big was sound. By establishing a single international revolution,” he says. “We have no choice today but newsroom that could draw on content contributed to adapt ourselves and to adapt our products.” by the 21 national members of the EBU, the news exchange could compete on scale with CNN but with An enthusiastic veteran of nearly two decades at two critical advantages in a multi-national market: Euronews, the 40-something Peters recently took local knowledge and language. over the executive suite from one of the network’s founders and is now tasked with leading the pan- Peters is understandably proud of this advantage: “If European enterprise into the digital age. one of our competitors like CNN, CNBC or BBC World News opens an office in, for example, The heritage Istanbul, they will put an American or English person in charge of it and there will be an English or Euronews was born of the European Broadcasting American point of view. We on the other hand put a Union (EBU) - a confederation of 85 national Turkish correspondent in charge of our Turkish broadcasting organisations across Western Europe, edition.” and was conceived at a time when Europeans were seeing the first Persian Gulf War in 1991 brought Close to the source into their living rooms live by CNN. Using the same strategy for all of its now 11 national CNN had pioneered the concept of 24-hour news editions, Euronews, is not only closer to the sources programming, and its potential to challenge the of its local news but, by broadcasting in the local traditional news format of highly-condensed reports language, closer to its audience as well. aired at short, fixed intervals was obvious. Europe’s state broadcasters felt a European version of the “We think that it gives us a richness of points of format was needed, but no single broadcaster could views, of perspectives, that the others do not have," compete with CNN’s resources. The answer: pool Peters told INSEAD Knowledge. “And we really the resources of a number of national television think that this can bring something new to the media organisations, and you have Euronews. landscape.”

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Copyright © INSEAD 2021. All rights reserved. This article first appeared on INSEAD Knowledge (http://knowledge.insead.edu). The numbers would seem to back up Peters’ - bespoke services that build their own brand while confidence: viewership of Eurovision is estimated at delivering information. Peters is convinced that over six million viewers a day in the European only the news organisations that can best deliver market – far ahead of its competitors. Overall, says high quality content on multiple platforms round-the- Peters “we have at least 7.5 million viewers, verified clock to meet this demand will survive. And, by an external company. Based on these real obviously, he believes Euronews will be a survivor. figures, we estimate that the figure is closer to 10 million per day in all of continental Europe but the Battling on a shoestring exact number of viewers is quite hard to get because we are broadcasting in a lot of countries But though such optimism is to be expected from a where the audience measurements are not exact." CEO rallying his troops, a more objective analyst might point out that the road ahead for Euronews But the reason the numbers are inexact are also part may not be smooth. Its overall budget of 60 million of Euronews' strength – they are reaching countries euros is only a tenth of the size of its main rival CNN – 155 at last count - that are outside the established and, of that, 40 percent comes from the European boundaries of their rivals. Countries such as the Commission and government-funded public Ukraine are not yet on their competitors’ radar. But television in the EBU consortium. This means being they will be. dependent on bureaucracies who play by different rules than private-sector businesses. “There are a lot of parts of the world that are considered on the sidelines for the time being,” As if to illustrate this point, Euronews’ affiliate Rádio says Peters, “but that are already very important for e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) has just pulled out of us. Eastern Europe, Central Asia …. We believe in a the EBU consortium in response to a government- very broad notion of Europe: from the Atlantic to the mandated budget reduction. Urals, maybe even to Afghanistan.” And the 60 percent of revenues generated by North Africa too is part of the Euronews world – advertising will surely be volatile as well. Much of national broadcasters in Egypt, Tunisia, and this has come from traditional 30-second ads which Morocco are now part of the consortium and there are in decline as advertisers explore new channels are already offices in Cairo, Dubai, Doha as well. online and new formats such as the sponsored Linking it all together is Euronews' main bureau in “infomercial.” Brussels, the biggest international newsroom in Europe. Where does that leave the businesses that create television news? Expect not just incremental Fitting the platform change, predicts Peters, but "something much more fundamental - more like a genetic mutation”. But the battle for the future of television news will not just be over geography but over the very nature of what a news organisation provides. In Peters’ Find article at view, the days of one-size-fits-all are over. https://knowledge.insead.edu/strategy/euronews- confronting-the-revolution-480 "Euronews is developing into a general hub of information. It will be a kind of umbrella of editorial brands, and these umbrella brands will be parts of Download the Knowledge app for free many EU delivery platforms - not just televisions. We have connected TV agreements with the world's leading electronics manufacturers - Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, LG, Loewe, Philips - and we are fast becoming the most prevalent news channel in the connected TV world."

"Information comes from everywhere and will go everywhere" says Peters. How extensively it is gathered depends on revenue and revenue will be generated and grown by new ways of customising the information delivery for the specific client.

Euronews has recently signed an agreement with Air France to provide a tailor-made in-flight news service and Peters sees many other major companies increasingly demanding - and paying for Visit INSEAD Knowledge http://knowledge.insead.edu 02