Don’t let the following news item convince you that the increased ad revenue from Middle Eastern countries has anything whatsoever to do with the way CNN reports the news. We all know that CNN is scrupulously fair, and could never be influenced by filthy lucre: Rani R. Raad promoted to Vice President as CNN regional sales revenues grow dramatically.

Turner Broadcasting has promoted Rani R.Raad to the position of Vice President, Regional Sales CNN International, responsible for Middle East, Africa, & Southern Europe.

The promotion is in recognition of Raad’s contribution to regional sales’ significant increase in revenues in the last two years.

‘Despite the challenges of current advertising trends, CNN has bucked the market to produce one of its strongest performances to date in the last two years’, confirmed Jonathan Davies, Senior Vice President Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) Europe’s news advertising sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

‘Rani’s blend of leadership skills and aggressive creativity has strongly contributed to building the business in these highly competitive regions and we are anticipating a continued growth into Q4 and next year across these markets.’

Since joining CNN five years ago, Raad has been responsible for providing bespoke advertising solutions for prestigious clients such as Dubai International Airport and Dubai Duty Free, producing a series of vignettes, which aired on CNN to help promote tourism in Dubai. He was also responsible for brokering the ‘Inside the Middle East’ sponsorship deal with Orascom Telecom in Egypt as well as the ‘Design 360’ sponsorship with Alfa Romeo. He has been actively involved in crafting multi-year, global partnerships with these clients at a time when less money is being spent on media and advertising. Davies attributes the success of these campaigns to the ability of CNN to develop and provide a suitable platform for these clients to put forward their specific messages to their target audience.