Top earning Arabs prefer CNN to Al Jazeera

Top earning Arabs and regional decision makers prefer CNN over Qatari rival Al Jazeera for their English language news, according to a new survey.

The survey, which measured audience reach among the main income earners in the top 13 percent of Middle East households, ranked CNN number one in the Middle East for monthly reach, which came in at 21 percent for the period from June to September last year.

BBC World News came second (15.6 percent), followed by Al Jazeera English (9 percent), CNBC (4.8 percent) and Euronews (3.6 percent).

CNN also reached more Arab nationals than the competition; 15.9 percent every month compared with 7.2 percent for runner up BBC World News.

The US based network also had the highest reach among business decision makers; 20.1 percent, which was 31 percent higher than its nearest competitor.

Al Jazeera English launched in November 2006 with the promise of having less of a “western” news agenda.

The channel is the only international news network to anchor part of its daily broadcast from the Middle East and has recruited a host of well known names, including veteran UK broadcaster Sir David Frost.

The survey was part of Synovate’s European Media and Marketing Study (EMS).