Viral Tea Makes History With Launch Of Exclusive Segment

When most of us were young, one of the occupations that we really wanted to become while growing up was we wanted to become 'a pilot'.

Anytime an aeroplane flies over our skies, we used to have that instinct of looking up to see which airline was flying over; be it Emirates, Kenya Airways, Qatar Airways etc, but we always used to see them at face value.

When our parents took us on our first flight, we were awed, amazed by the rumbling of the twin engines (four for some aircraft) and the roar they make while sprinting down the runway, preparing to take flight to altitudes hitting over 38,000 feet, no matter whether it was flying to Mombasa from Nairobi for holiday, or flying abroad to see your family.

Then, we grew up. The more we got to travel on aeroplanes, the more curious we were about how they work, how airports operate and the profiles of the nice-looking pilots, air hostesses and air stewards among others who work together to ensure that everything from the airport to the aircraft works in tip-top shape every single day.

Have you ever wondered what type of engine the plane you're travelling in is composed of? What goes behind the scenes among cabin crews? Or how Immigration at airports is able to bust that woman trying to smuggle cocaine through the arrivals gate? That's why we are here.

Space For Aviation Content

Owing to the increasing demand for aviation content, Viral Tea has created an exclusive space starting today for aviation content remaining true to our principle to 'inform, entertain and educate' our vibrant young audience, anywhere and anytime.

We have done so by creating a special page on our website (www.viraltea.co.ke) and we will publish everything aviation content be it news, features, informative pieces and those wild facts that you did not know related to aviation. Access it here

According to Careers in Aerospace, aviation journalism entails researching and chasing down leads that come across via the various news articles and regulatory documents that land on our desks from around the world on a daily basis.

“You will be responsible for using the leads, information, and sources to build up articles for an English-speaking B2B audience. The other part of your job will require you to build and maintain relationships with people from across the world who will then help you in corroborating stories as well as breaking news," the definition reveals.

What Motivated Us To Start An Aviation Segment?

The popular Netflix documentary dubbed MH370 regarding the events that led up to and followed one of the most mysterious air disasters in aviation history involving Malaysia Airlines 370, which disappeared from the skies in 2014, sparked our mission to bring more content regarding aviation.

If you might have noticed, aviation experts worked hand in hand with journalists specialised in that field to come up with theories surrounding the crash with such passion and knowledge, with the nine-year-old mystery unravelling a new twist.

A 229-page report released on Wednesday, August 30 as reported by UK's The Daily Mail suggested that the missing wreckage could be located about 1,560km west of Perth in Australia, a revelation attributed to 'groundbreaking' amateur radio technology known as a weak signal propagation reporter or WSPR to help detect and track the plane's flight path.

Popularising Aviation Journalism

As aviation journalists have been commonly found in developed countries, barely have we seen any in Kenya and a small number, not less than 10 approximately, are currently making positive strides in boosting aviation journalism in the country for the very first time, one of them being the recently-launched AviHub Network.

"So why doesn’t Kenya have aviation journalism? What can be done to introduce that field? Are we waiting for something major to happen, for example, the Kenya Airways plane crash of 2007 for every Ali, Kamau and Onyango to show his expertise in aviation? (I’m told coverage surrounding it lasted more than a week—constantly.)

"I asked my fellow scribes about this and out of the unsatisfactory answers I got, the only solid one was that there’s a course in journalism at an aviation college in Kenya. But how far does this go?" this writer posed in his opinion article published in The Star newspaper.

The rise and rise in digital journalism has seen increased demand for news coverage on the spot instead of having to wait for prime-time news bulletins at the end of every day, and with that came the rise of digital media platforms with one age-old goal and a few extras; to inform, entertain and educate not just any audience but a target audience.

Simply put, Kenyans these days want more than just traditional media reporting losses a local airline has made businesswise as well as flights to Nairobi and beyond, something which prevents users from gratifying their needs.

Traditional Media Vs Viral Tea

A traditional media house would report a major plane crash as breaking news first then other news items that don't necessarily border on aviation.

Viral Tea however promises to use the aviation segment to exhaustively cover the plane crash ranging from technicalities, possible causes, systems of focus and exclusives among others aside from the top stories and breaking news surrounding that plane crash.

Not just plane crashes, Viral Tea has also published explainers regarding how aircraft systems work, and how helicopters are used during events among others, particularly those that have caught the eye of Kenyans, leading to articles like this (that even emerged prior to the creation of this segment):

1. Mono-Fleeting: Inside Kenya Airways' Plan To Drop Popular Embraer Aircraft
2. How Much Water You Can Lose On A 15-Hour Flight
3. Autopilot: Importance And Why It Is Not Used During Takeoff & Landing
4. What Really Makes Up White Trail 'Smoke' Left By Jets In The Sky
5. How To Survive A Plane Hijack: Dos And Don'ts
6. Inside Helicopter That Won Over Kenyans With Safari Rally Coverage [VIDEO]

Our articles have moreover been published in easy-to-understand language and details derived from research via respected aviation news websites and the internet and catchy enough for our readers to consume as much information as possible and be 'in-the-know' about aeroplanes, or as we like to call it, to #NeverMissAStory.

Small Media House Doing Big Tings

Demographics from Google Analytics and Similarweb among others indicate that Viral Tea is among the most-preferred news websites among users aged 18-39 who consume content in real-time, without having to wait for prime-time news bulletins.

This finding serves as a daily reminder that Viral Tea is committed to bringing you timely and credible news and content at any time of the day, be it articles, social media posts or videos.

With close to 1 million pageviews one year since we launched in February 2021 and averaging tens of thousands of readers every month (and growing), Viral Tea has produced all manner of articles ranging from original pieces to news, entertainment & gossip, business, sports among others and has become without a doubt Kenya's fastest-growing digital native media house since the 2020s began.

With the launch of the aviation segment, Viral Tea became the first digital native media house in the country to have a space dedicated exclusively to aviation content, so much so that we moved our fact-check segment to news content in our small reorganisation process to enhance the experience for you who takes a lunch break to read one of our hottest stories of the day.