In a Scroll-Obsessed World, Raya Abirached Shares Classes on Media Success

From interviewing American actor Matt Damon two days after giving delivery, to answering work messages at 1 a.m. and tirelessly constructing her extremely fashionable program Scoop with Raya, Lebanese journalist and TV host, Raya Abirached, has undeniably turn into the Arab world’s most well-known media icon. But, all of it started with a easy premise: a lady who merely loves motion pictures.

In right this moment’s social media panorama, the place Gen Z wrestle with the selection of constructing their very own platform or withdrawing from it altogether, Abirached’s journey from tv to digital media gives classes for younger Arabs aspiring to enter the media and leisure business.

The chance to study from these classes lastly got here at The Youth Summit 2025, held at The American College in Cairo (AUC) on 19–20 September. Designed particularly for Egypt’s Gen Z, the summit centered on the theme of “Taking the Leap.”

For Abirached, nevertheless, her personal leap in media was neither drastic, calculated, nor even strategic, as some may assume; moderately, it was rooted in her id as a self-proclaimed film lady.

With that straightforward ardour, she held onto it and fueled it constantly all through her profession.

“Who am I? I’m the film lady. I’m a lady who loves motion pictures,” Abirached stated. “It was a quite simple thought, and that straightforward thought ended up changing into a flagship film present for the complete area. Not as a result of I deliberate it, however as a result of I actually love motion pictures and I occurred to be superb at tv.”

Whereas there have been many forces pulling at her to vary the idea of the present and switch it into shiny leisure or extra of an eye-candy spectacle, Abirached stayed true to its essence, by no means as soon as altering it. In right this moment’s social media world, the place going viral is seen as the one measure of success, Abirached’s 15-year expertise proves that this isn’t at all times the case.

“Fairly often they tried to vary the present into an leisure or gossip present, however I resisted,” Abirached stated. “I’m the film lady. I really like motion pictures. And you like the present since you really feel that I really like motion pictures. That keenness is what made folks wish to see movies within the cinema. It was a easy idea, nevertheless it labored as a result of it was actual.”

From Tv to TikTok

Since its launch in 2005 on MBC2, Scoop with Raya has turn into Abirached’s gateway for introducing Hollywood and worldwide superstar tradition to Arab audiences. What really set the present aside, nevertheless, was not solely its high-profile interviews with stars like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, however Abirached’s personal hallmark of pure, long-form conversational type that gave this system its distinct id and rising recognition.

With the rise of social media within the 2010s, the present tailored by opening new channels of interplay, from taking fan questions on Twitter to incorporating digital engagement immediately into its format. Over time, Scoop with Raya has transitioned from a standard tv program right into a platform that speaks to the fluid, fast-paced world of social media. But at its core, Abirached has tried to take care of the ability of significant dialog, even on the planet of 10-second clips.

“It’s very fascinating for me now to attempt to discover methods to dwell on social media. I take my interviews and chop them into small items of fascinating issues in order that we will have a story on social media. However, I nonetheless crave lengthy kind,” she shares.

“I nonetheless assume that it’s extra fascinating for me to take a seat down and converse to an actor for 20 minutes than it’s to talk to them for 2 minutes. I nonetheless discover dialog fascinating.”

The rise of TikTok and different short-form platforms typically raises the query of whether or not long-form nonetheless has a spot. Analysis has even discovered that brief movies obtain extra likes, feedback, and shares than lengthy movies. Although Abirached argues that the reply isn’t about declaring one format “higher” than the opposite, however about recognizing that audiences eat each in numerous methods.

“TikTok has 10-minute movies, so I don’t assume lengthy format is dying,” she says. “I feel the lengthy format isn’t on pattern in the mean time, however it is going to come again.”

Podcasts, she argues, show that long-form storytelling and conversations proceed to thrive, even within the age of scrolling. “Podcasts are a type of longer content material that individuals like to do. They’ve discovered a strategy to pay attention. It’s only a second of change.”

Audiences have undeniably reworked. What was as soon as consumed on a sofa over a meal is now watched on the transfer, whereas strolling, cooking, and even doing one’s make-up, in only a matter of seconds. The viewers who as soon as sat via a 20-minute interview now anticipate content material they’ll carry with them in every single place, which raises the query: how can creators and journalists comply with their audiences into this fast-paced world with out shedding which means or originality?

For Abirached, it’s about understanding your personal ‘three seconds’; understanding who you might be and the way rapidly you may ship one thing genuine and totally different in a brief span of time. “What are your ‘three seconds’? That’s what’s going to make you profitable. Not doing what others are doing due to a pattern, however creating your very personal pattern due to who you might be and what you uniquely carry to the world,” she says.

As audiences develop accustomed to consuming fast content material anytime and anyplace, success is more and more measured in immediacy. The give attention to chasing the following viral video typically replaces the long-term imaginative and prescient wanted to plan for the following 5 years, which  Abirached argues is an unsustainable pattern.

“Typically Gen Z seems like success can come immediately with a terrific social media publish or a viral second. I don’t come from that technology. I come from a technology the place you construct your profession step-by-step, with endurance and arduous work. It’s like wholesome meals, it lasts longer,” she added.

Analysis backs up her level. A current 2024 Pew Analysis Heart evaluation revealed how fleeting on-line content material actually is, as by October 2023, 1 / 4 of all webpages that existed between 2013 and 2023 had been now not accessible. Practically one in 5 tweets had additionally vanished from public view inside months of being posted.

For younger journalists and aspiring media professionals, this basically implies that digital content material is fragile. On-line posts can disappear at any second, leaving nothing behind, and that impermanence is a stark reminder to construct careers and legacies on extra than simply the fleeting nature of the web.

“Success that comes too rapidly doesn’t final lengthy. You may shoot a viral video and get 100,000 followers, however what about 5 years from now? That’s why I imagine in perseverance,” she says.

Trying forward, Abirached believes that past the fleeting pull of virality, fame, or success, what endures is authenticity. In a world consumed by countless scrolling, she finds herself returning to the teachings of her tv days, when real dialog held weight, as a information for the longer term.

“I used to be requested to publish way more than I wished, and I resisted. Possibly it meant I wouldn’t have the engagement others had, however for me, psychological well being and authenticity matter extra.”