Channel 4 and Ladbible team up to bring Unreported World stories to wider youth audience

Channel 4 has teamed up with viral news publisher Ladbible to reach a bigger youth audience for its foreign affairs journalism.

The broadcaster will provide Ladbible – which claims to be the “largest social video publisher ever” after buying out rival Unilad last month – with film rushes from foreign affairs series Unreported World.

Ladbible’s social video team will then produce videos taken from the footage tailor-made for each of its key platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter – in a five-part documentary series.

The team will begin with Krishnan Guru-Murthy’s story on the plight of some of the 1m children fleeing poverty and hunger in Venezuela.

Arian Kalantari, Ladbible Group co-founder, said: “We know our audience is deeply interested in the world around them, especially topics like politics and environment.

“They just want content that they can relate to delivered in formats that fits into their busy lives. Unreported World is the perfect partnership for doing this.”

Unreported World is produced for Channel 4 by Quicksilver Media and offers a look at foreign stories behind the news agenda, from illegal gold mining in South Africa to getting rare access to state-controlled North Korea.

A Ladbible spokesperson said the idea is that those who see and engage with the documentaries on its social channels will be encouraged to visit Channel 4’s on-demand service All 4 to watch the full episode.

Channel 4 commissioning editor for news and current affairs, Siobhan Sinnerton, said: “The Unreported World brand is one of the most respected in British journalism, which in recent years has punched through with a global audience on social media.

“We are delighted that this partnership with Ladbible will help the films reach an even wider audience, and increase their reach and impact.”

Channel 4 News is about to launch its own weekly news show Uncovered on Facebook Watch, with its correspondents going behind the headlines for an in-depth analysis of global stories that often go unreported.

Picture: Ladbible/Channel 4