SBS named as one of Australia’s most innovative companies for its digital language services  

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.

Ranked third on the Media and Marketing list, SBS was the only media company from over 700 nominated organisations to make the list, recognised for its growing and evolving multilingual digital services, exemplifying SBS’s innovative culture and strategy.

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, finding innovative ways to make  SBS’s distinctive content increasingly accessible to multilingual audiences.

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.

It has also underpinned the delivery of essential services helping to keep multicultural  communities informed and safe during the pandemic. In March 2020, SBS 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.

SBS Managing Director, James Taylor (pictured), says SBS is continuing to focus on  innovative and meaningful ways it can respond to and meet the diverse needs of multicultural  communities.

He says, “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. 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.

“Today, through SBS, people can read the news in their own language, listen to podcasts and  stream audio in their language, watch subtitled documentaries, dramas, current affairs as  well as login to SBS’s digital services in their language, all delivered in a way which considers  the media habits and content preferences of different language communities. 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.”    

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