Creating language specific channels on YouTube is our way of democratising knowledge. By making factual content available in local languages, we reach a global audience that may not have access to television with important stories about human rights. Our films are currently available on YouTube in English, Mandarin, Swahili, French, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and German.

For people living in regions with media censorship and state restrictions, access to information about LGBTQ+ issues, slavery, poverty, war and women’s rights is hugely important. YouTube makes this possible. With over 2.1 billion active monthly users, the platform has the capacity to reach millions of people every day.

Encouraging Growth of Arabic Channel

This was what we had in mind when we started The Why Arabic in 2021. Since launching, the channel has gained 18,000 subscribers and nearly 3 million views across just 30 videos. Our main viewers on the channel come from Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Iraq and Egypt. Through The Why Arabic alone we have reached impressive audiences with films focusing on themes like modern day slavery, gender equality and poverty.

Maid in Hell Reaches 1 Million People

Maid in Hell is an award-winning film about the slavery-like Kafala system in the Middle East. Across all of our language channels in 2022, the film reached 1 million people. In Arabic, the film was viewed 90.913 times in 7 countries that still use the Kafala system, doing particularly well in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The remainder of the views came from Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Bahrain. Through our French and English channels, the film was viewed in 9 countries domestic maids commonly originate from, with 186.611 views coming from Kenya, the Philippines, Uganda, Ghana, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nepal and Sudan. 

Russian Channel Tackles Disinformation

Earlier this year, we continued our mission to democratise knowledge by launching a Russian channel bringing 50 documentaries dubbed in Russian to those in need of fact based films in Russia and bordering countries. The channel has now gained 50,000 views, with 50% of the audience coming from Russia and the other 50% coming from Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Georgia. 75% of viewers are between the ages of 24 to 44. 

We look forward to providing more language versions of our films and continuing to grow our online reach!