In a media landscape that is constantly evolving, it is crucial to not only adapt to emerging trends but also to effectively address the diverse needs and preferences of a global audience.

In a recent interview, Duncan Hooper, Head of Content at CGTN Europe, shared insights into how the international arm of China Media Group is adapting to the changing media landscape. Duncan Hooper provided valuable feedback on how the Hexaglobe OTT solutions have been seamlessly integrated into their infrastructure, playing a crucial role in enhancing operations and expanding CGTN Europe's global reach.

Let’s start with an introduction - Can you present yourself and provide an overview of your role at CGTN Europe?

I’m Duncan Hooper, Head of Content at CGTN Europe. I’m responsible for the output of the channel across digital, social media, the website, and our two daily television shows.

Can you give us an overview of CGTN?

CGTN is the international arm of China’s public broadcaster, China Media Group, the world’s largest broadcaster.

Our role is to address a significant gap in global media coverage, specifically the lack of comprehensive reporting on the full range of stories emerging from China. We try to put more spotlight not only on China but also on the global South because there is a big concentration of media in Europe and the US and sometimes we feel that there are voices that get missed out of the discussion.

What challenges led you to seek out an OTT solution?

We have a number of different challenges. One is that audiences are definitely moving against traditional television watching, which is not to say that they don't watch television anymore: more and more of them are choosing to do it in different ways whether that is on smaller devices or actually still on the television but through connected services. We obviously wanted to move along with that trend and reach those audiences. It's easier for us to go to someone who has experience of doing it than trying to build these products ourselves.

What factors influenced your decision to choose our OTT solution over others?

The other providers are very big and have more of a one size fits-all approach, which means we end up with features that are not relevant to our needs. Hexaglobe offers more bespoke solutions that we can rely upon. In the broadcasting industry, it is quite valuable to have a partner who addresses issues very quickly and ensures that reliable personnel are available to resolve them.

Which features of our OTT solution do you use the most?

We use the live streaming functionality to broadcast a live across our social media channels, both from our television feed but also from partners. It has generated really big audiences for us, especially for breaking news. We can just turn it on and off very quickly and it has helped us grow quite rapidly. The other really powerful solution for us is the Advanced Replay which allows us to cut sections from television output for social media in one place with a minimal number of clicks.

How do these features help you in your day-to-day operations?

We are thinking about taking the stories that we want to tell and making them available to as many people as possible and obviously pragmatically it's difficult to do that. Hexaglobe allows us to have a centralized repository.

The most important thing for us with a small team is to be efficient and serve multiple platforms. We want to be able to teach our television journalists to use digital tools, even if they don’t have a lot of time to learn: they have enough work managing the stories that they have to work on. We were able to bring someone on board onto the system very quickly. Within 10 minutes of learning, they are able to operate and take one piece of content and to put it out across multiple platforms.

Can you share specific metrics that highlight the benefits CGTN has experienced since using our OTT solution?

The biggest increase that we had was over the course of six to eight months where we grew our following on TikTok from about 100,000 to 600,000 and 90% of that was attributable to the live streams that we were running at the time.

How would you rate the customer support and services provided by the Hexaglobe team?

The brilliant thing about Hexaglobe is that we talk to individuals who actually understand the business. They always respond very quickly.

For example, the people who are posting on social media don't have time to watch the whole video to produce a headline that is going to work on YouTube. So we often end up with very boring headlines. We went to Hexaglobe for this particular issue and they built a solution for us using AI. It essentially comes up with a number of suggested headlines that bring in some of the content elements, such as quotes or questions, that will produce quite powerful YouTube headlines without our teams having to watch two or three minutes of video.

The ability to address specific issues, receive effective solutions, and ultimately achieve a high-quality product is what I find most valuable about working with Hexaglobe.

Conclusion

For CGTN Europe, staying accessible across platforms and reaching different audiences in different places as the media landscape shifts is a key priority. To do so, AI is becoming a practical tool for improving headlines, tagging, and content adaptation across platforms, especially for teams seeking efficiency. As the future of media is unfolding, AI is set to play a pivotal role in the industry. Hexaglobe is at the forefront of innovation, integrating AI into its OTT solutions. 

We at Hexaglobe are proud to support CGTN Europe in their mission to bring important stories to a global audience, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration as they navigate the future of broadcasting.