Film showings are a significant part of our work in Pakistan. The pandemic hindered many of the planned activities. We immediately started looking for new opportunities in the unique circumstances. The crisis speeded up developments that were long set in motion. Read below about the encouraging outcomes in the area of Television and social media.
Nationwide views of the Covid-19 videos
Last May, we shared with you a fundraising initiative to produce a health-related video series with possible national impact. We are very excited to share how this project developed and the first available results.
We planned to create a series of 10 high-quality, dramatized Christian-value-based videos on Covid-19 and well-being issues. We were exploring opportunities to air them regionally and, if possible, on a national TV channel. With your support, we produced five short health information videos in Urdu and Pashto as Public Service Messages.
We’ve got the extraordinary chance – a time slots on a prominent Pakistani national broadcasting company for three months (November to January). The TV company has a total of 160 million viewers nationwide. It covers 75% of the Pakistani population. Our videos were scheduled before and after well-watched programs on 3 of the eight national TV channels. They were viewed via Terrestrial antenna (mostly viewers in the countryside) and as a Cable network (predominant urban viewers).
Based on the TV company’s preliminary numbers on the time segments when in November and December, our videos had a total of 372 million views. These numbers are impressive! What they mean is that people had multiple opportunities to see the uplifting message of the video series. The influence of short videos increases significantly with each repeated viewing.
We are grateful for this unique possibility to reach the people in Pakistan. We have been running media outreach in Pakistan since 2013, and this is the first time we have had a breakthrough on national TV! Television is still a prominent and influential medium in Pakistan, and national channels have a vast impact. Thank you for standing with us and making this video series possible!
Our Social Media is rapidly growing in Pakistan
2020 was a tremendous year for Social media in Pakistan. In 2019 our local team received training in social media and support in developing a winning strategy. In the spring of 2020, right after the start of the coronavirus crisis, we were ready and equipped to launch our first social media channel – a Facebook page. By the end of July, the Facebook page had more than 22,000 followers. By the end of December, the numbers dubbed. Today, at the end of January 2021, we have more than 52,000 FB followers!
The FB page sends daily inspirational Bible verse quotes in Urdu and English. Also, articles and devotional blogs are posted weekly.
We are thankful! God has open new doors for sharing the Gospel in Pakistan is continuously growing.