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Public broadcaster SBS has been recognised as one of Australia and New Zealand’s Most Innovative Companies, in the prestigious annual list published by the Australian Financial Review and Boss Magazine for the company’s multilingual digital services.
Ranked third on the Media and Marketing list, SBS was the sole media company from over 700 nominated organisations to make the list.
SBS provides multiplatform services in more than 60 languages and in recent years has increased its focus on scaling its digital services to meet the diverse needs of the one in five Australians who speak a language other than English at home.
The company maintains that this has been informed by in-depth multilingual research, user testing and engagement with communities.
This strategy has seen SBS become the first media service in Australia to offer in-language login and navigation on its streaming platform, SBS On Demand, where it also provides a growing collection of SBS dramas, documentaries and current affairs with subtitles in six languages, enabling audiences to access and enjoy content in their preferred language.
SBS Managing Director, James Taylor, said SBS is continuing to focus on innovative and meaningful ways it can respond to and meet the diverse needs of multicultural communities.
“As the most multilingual broadcaster in the world, including delivering news and content in more than 60 languages, the depth and breadth of SBS’s services are unmatched, and we’re proud to be recognised as a leading industry innovator – the only media organisation to be recognised in this way,” Taylor said.
“Innovation is built into everything we do at SBS, from how we make, deliver and market our content, to how we build products, to the ways in which we engage with diverse audiences across our multiplatform offering,” he said.
He continued that today, through SBS, people can consume content in their own language, such as reading the news, listening to podcasts and streaming audio, including watch subtitled documentaries, dramas, current affairs. SBS also allows users to login to SBS’s digital services in their language.
“As digital consumption and linguistic diversity increase in Australia, SBS’s distinctive role and unique services are more relevant than ever, and we will continue to deliver dedicated content and find innovative solutions to meet our audiences’ specific needs,” Taylor said.
SBS said that the strategy has also underpinned the delivery of essential services helping to keep multicultural communities informed and safe during the pandemic.
In March 2020, the company launched the SBS Multilingual Coronavirus Portal to provide Australians with access to news, critical updates and information in 64 languages, along with videos produced by SBS’s in-language teams explaining important public health messages, available across digital platforms.
More than eight million Australians have accessed SBS’s digital multilingual COVID-19 content since the portal launched.
Earlier this year, SBS also launched a dedicated Chinese-language digital service – SBS中文 (SBS Chinese) – bringing together video, written and spoken Chinese languages in a mobile-first offering, providing news, information and entertainment for Australia’s Mandarin and Cantonese speaking communities.
Source: SBS
Zoe is a content creator, specialising in speech and corporate communications. She is currently the content producer of Supply Chain Channel— a learning ecosystem dedicated to connecting and empowering the Australian supply chain community.
