Two local Armenian TV companies have begun to create special online content, attempting to enter the online news media space.

The first is the Public TV of Armenia with its news.1tv.am project. Here, reports from the Orakarg news program have been adapted to the online format of disseminating news: videos are accompanied by a short description. The broadcasting text on air, turns into an appropriate headline on the website, keeping the same content.

The company’s marketing and public relations director, Alexandr Hakobyan, explains the need for a separate site by the urgency of conveying news.

“Because of the limit of time on air, we were losing the accessibility to share exclusive content. The site now helps in the case of urgent information not to wait for airtime and share it,” he says, adding that in our times the news should be at the disposal of the consumer at all times.

According to Hakobyan, news.1tv.am aims to grow its audience and compete with other news outlets with its content: “We have not set ourselves the task of [being] commercial.”

Public TV’s news site has its own editors, who work with the content provided by Orakarg’s journalists: “The journalists’ work has increased slightly, but we have team spirit and readiness to objectively and professionally share the news.”

The news outlet with a six-month history fills the gap on air, while the airwaves replenishes the site’s content. Though different from each other, they are complementary platforms, where there is no issue of dominance.

Shant TV’s news website, Shantnews.am, entered the market in December 2017. According to the director of the company’s Horizon news program, Aghasi Hunanyan, the site is still under development: “I don’t want to talk about details at this time, but we aim to have our place in the online space and enter healthy competition.”

Unlike Public TV’s news site, Shantnews.am is independent of Horizon news outlet’s content. On the site there are analytical pieces, a gallery, and its own live stream.

Shantnews.am tries to use Armenian news websites’ best practices and offer new quality. The project was created with business aims.

The other TV companies distinguished by their news content — for example, Armenia TV, Kentron, and Yerkir Media — have not yet created separate online projects. They publish their television content, as well as their own news, translations, and official information in the news section of their official websites.

Gayane Asryan