In response to changing audience needs and the growing popularity of digital platforms for news consumption, SBS is shifting its Arabic and Mandarin news offerings from linear bulletins to short-form digital video news packages delivered throughout the day.

The change is set to build on the network's existing SBS Arabic and SBS Chinese audio and digital language services, delivering more content to these growing audiences.

Over the past 12 months, SBS has been piloting the delivery of these new news packages on third-party platforms, contributing to over 14.7 million video views on SBS Arabic's YouTube and Facebook accounts and over 8.2 million video views on SBS Chinese's YouTube, Facebook, Weibo and WeChat accounts.

"SBS is very proud of our weekday nightly Arabic and Mandarin news bulletins which have been running for over two years," said Director of SBS News and Current Affairs, Mandi Wicks. "Our data shows us that more and more of these audiences are seeking out news on our digital platforms throughout the day. This decision to shift to digital delivery platforms reflects that demand for timely, regular video news updates and will see us produce a record amount of in-language content for these communities."

The Arabic and Mandarin TV news teams will become part of the long-running SBS Arabic and SBS Chinese audio and digital language programs, focusing on videos, social media and podcasting. They will produce shorter, more frequent news packages for consumption throughout the day, resulting in an overall increase in daily content output for these language audiences.

"SBS remains strongly committed to providing trusted and impartial news in Arabic and Mandarin for our audiences. This development will see us delivering even more quality, factual digital news coverage around the clock, including on location around Australia, aimed at growing reach and giving audiences more choice and flexibility in how and when they engage with our content," said Acting Director of SBS Audio and Language Content, Pamela Cook.

SBS News in Arabic and SBS News in Mandarin have been available free-to-air on the SBS World Watch channel since May 2022, providing live news bulletins every weeknight.

Nearly half of all Australians (49%) are using social media to access news, and online video news consumption is becoming increasingly popular. According to the latest Australian Census, there are over 367,000 Arabic speakers and over 685,000 Mandarin speakers in Australia, with a median age of 30-34.