al-Qaeda as-Sahab Audio/Video Releases Up 214% in 2022, On Track to Return to Record Lows in 2023

Al-Qaeda's as-Sahab audio/video annual release rate was up 214% in 2022 from 2021. The spike in releases reversed the record lows of the three prior years, however, 2023 is now on track to return as-Sahab to record low levels. In 2022, it had 22 releases at a release rate of one every 16.59 days compared to 2021 when it had seven releases at a rate of one every 52.14 days. In 2023, it had four releases as of 29 May at a release rate of one every 48 days. The 2022 increase put it 83% above its average annual release rate of 12 per year for 2020 to 2022. It is 37% below its average annual release rate of 35 per year for 2000 to 2022.

As-Sahab had 804 audio/video releases from 2000 to 2022. It favors video releases with 739 being videos and 60 audio only. Total releases amount to more than 341 hours of material with an average runtime of 0:26:52. The shortest release was 0:00:29 and the longest was 2:06:41.

The IntelCenter Database (ICD) Video Component contains all of the releases used in this analysis along with translations, subtitles, content tagging, keyword lists, named entity recognition, sentiment analysis, metadata and much more.

Methodology Note:
The analysis includes all audio/video releases in which the speaker makes a new statement. Releases done in multiple parts were counted as one release per part even if two parts came out on the same day. Alternate language versions by the official group and supporter groups were not counted.