About Al Arabiya English »

English.alarabiya.net is the new Website of the Al Arabiya family. It seeks to reach a non-Arab international audience, as well as expatriates living in the Middle East and North Africa, in order to deepen understanding of Arab societies, cultures and economies. The Website has five distinctive elements: analytical text; strong visuals; a forum for Arab opinion; expanded social-media outreach, and a Web-TV platform.

About Alarabiya.net »

AlArabiya.net is the online presence of Al Arabiya News Channel, the leading news channel in the Arab world.

The Arabic-language version of AlArabiya.net came into being on February 21, 2004 after a process of technical buildup and editorial and creative planning that started with the launch of Al Arabiya TV in March 2003.

The English news website was launched in August 2007 to build a bridge between the channel and English-speakers, whether Arabs or native speakers, who are interested in the Middle East.

Versions in Farsi and Urdu followed in March 2008, catering specifically to audiences in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and parts of the Indian sub-continent. The websites offer an Arab perspective on the news while encouraging engagement by our readers through comments and user-generated content.

AlArabiya.net is a pioneer in online journalism in the Arabic speaking world and aspires to be the most reliable source of news and analysis about the Middle East catering to readers all over the world.

Distinctive Content »

The website offers a range of distinctive content, from news stories and exclusives to multimedia content like videos and slideshows.

The Front Page includes the latest and most important news that concerns the Arab and Muslim worlds. The Views section features the best opinion pieces written by the world's leading experts on Arab affairs.

The Middle East section includes all the news and analysis related to the Middle East, while the International section covers other major world news. Society & Culture focuses on the Arab and Islamic world, as well as Arabs and Muslims in the West. The Business & Technology section covers the most importance developments coming out of or important to the region. And the Variety page offers light news and entertainment stories out of the Arab world and its vibrant arts and cultural scenes.

Readers need never miss a headline or fall behind on the news. Just sign up for our RSS feeds, SMS news alerts and newsletters through the website and follow us on Twitter at Al_Arabiya_Eng to stay current and up-to-date with today's news.

AlArabiya.net Statistics »

AlArabiya.net sources its statistics from ABCe, a non-profit entity based in the United Kingdom that is renowned for its credibility. In April 2007, ABCe announced that AlArabiya.net was the most visited of all surveyed Arab websites.

For instance, in the month of November 2006 alone, readers visited 22 million pages on AlArabiya.net, surpassing all other audited websites in the Arab world.

According to the website's internal statistics for May 2008, AlArabiya.net has a truly global audience:

Country % Country %
Saudi Arabia 21.60% Kuwait 2.22%
United States 10.08% Algeria 1.41%
UAE 7.71% Qatar 1.24%
Egypt 7.32% Palestine 1.18%
Canada 4.03% Bahrain 1.11%
United Kingdom 3.63% Oman 0.77%
Germany 3.61% Jordan 2.95%
Morocco 3.19% France 2.41%
Syria 2.96% Other 22.58%

Recent Successes »

AlArabiya.net and AlAswaq.net – its Arabic-language sister site dedicated to financial news for Arab investors – had the largest share of ads among Arab websites in 2007. One of the reasons for this success is the synergy between television and online advertising.

Al Arabiya launched a program that broadcasts videos sent in by viewers, the first such program in the Arab world. AlArabiya.net launched a similar section on its website in April 2007.

German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) chose AlArabiya.net to be its first electronic partner for full coverage of the World Cup in Germany, dedicating a section of its Arabic website to news from AlArabiya.net.

AlArabiya.net won the 'Best Arab News Website' Award at the Fourth Arab Media Festival in Beirut in May 2006. The choice was based on a public opinion poll in Lebanon.

The May 2005 Davos World Economic Forum depended on data from an AlArabiya.net poll entitled "Arab Priorities in 2005" to set priorities for Arab reform. Some 3,000 people participated in the high-profile survey.

Studies on AlArabiya.net »

A number of academic and market research studies have been conducted on AlArabiya.net:

  • A study by REX, an American non-profit organization that supports independent journalism all over the world, conducted in Morocco in 2007, found that 22 percent of those surveyed had visited AlArabiya.net within the four weeks prior to the study
  • An October 2007 study by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information in Cairo showed that AlArabiya.net posts one story about human rights every four days. The actual number is thought to be higher as the study depended on the search words "human rights," thus excluding many important stories without that exact phrase.
  • An Australian case study concluded that AlArabiya.net set new criteria for online journalism, established a public sphere characterized by multiplicity, and embraced all categories of the Arab society. The study was conducted by the School of Computing and Maths at Australia's Charles Sturt University under the supervision of Dr. Yeslam al-Saggaf, Senior Lecturer in Information Technology. The results were presented in August 2007 at the Conference on Media and Communication Research in Helsinki, Finland.
  • A study conducted in October 2005 by AlArabiya.net editor-in-chief Dr. Ammar Bakar offered an analysis of readers' comments. The study was published in the Journal of Promotion Management and the findings were discussed at conferences in Washington, Denmark, Bonn, Jordan, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
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