MYCONTENT 2016: bigger content demand, stronger local production

As the only tradeshow 100% dedicated to the always attractive MENA region, the participants consulted by Prensario agreed on the importance of being here. Two European distributors explain: ‘We have a lot of business going on here and this space allows us to visit our existing clients and to meet new players, whose number is growing year to year’.

His Excellency Sami Al Qamzi, director general of the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) and managing director of Dubai Media Incorporated, inaugurated the event which this year is attended by more than 80 companies from 65 countries, and close to 150 buyers, including broadcasters, digital players, producers, creative agencies, investors and licensors.

He said that demographic patterns and the ‘strong popularity’ enjoyed by Pay TV in the Arab world and across the Middle East indicate ‘remarkable opportunities’ for content providers, advertisers and brand licensors. ‘The varied choices of Arab youth and diverse communities (there are over 200 million Arab youth aged below 25 and Dubai alone is home to over 200 nationalities) have seen Pay TV subscriptions growing in spite of competition from online video’.

Al Qamzi concluded: ‘Improvements in the policy environment, particularly in protecting intellectual property, will further encourage content suppliers and Pay TV channels to sharpen their focus on the region’.

Eng. Anas Al Madani, Vice - Chairman and Group CEO of Index Holding, added: ‘The MENA region witnesses a great demand for TV content that is evident in the increase in the number of Pay TV households which grew in 2015 by 10% to reach 4.95 million households. According to a report issued by London-based firm IHS, this increase has prompted a 37% year-on-year revenue rise from subscriptions to € 1.17 billion (USD 1.33 billion) last year. IHS forecasts that Pay TV subscribers will gradually increase in the coming years, to touch 6.54 million households by 2020’.

About digital, the panel Second Screen The Future TV Experience, moderated by Prensario, offered interesting perspectives. ‘The release of Netflix was the best that could happen to this market, as it has allowed the appearance of many OTT, local and international’, remarked Nadim Dada, director of content acquisitions of Starz Play Arabia, whose has a big footprint in UAE, KSA, Tunisia and other key markets betting Netflix in terms of usage.

Sherif Dahan, regional director OTT of Vuclip, owned by Hong Kong based PCCW, is a premium mobile VOD service with 11 million subscribers in South East Asia and MENA, with 27 partnerships with telecommunications companies. ‘We are planning to release an OTT services in MENA soon, in which will include short form content, but also original content. We’ve produced What a Duck in India and we want to replicate the model’, he explained.

Regarding this last topic, the panel Formats: A focus on Original Content and Local Talent gathered Joseph Husseini, head of channel, MTV (Lebanon) and Francesco Denti, VP Entertainment Channels, FOX Networks Group Middle East. While Husseini highlighted that the channel is dedicating special slots on the grid to discover new talents, Denti described the process of transforming the group channels from Free TV to Pay TV (it signed an exclusive deal with BeIN for FOX and FOX Movies), as he consider the most important changes of the industry are occurring in this segment of business.

Programming manager of the Dubai-based channel Al Aan TV, Houdon Al Safadi, underlined on her keynote the development and production of its first drama series Amal (13 episodes) shot in Syria. The channel is producing 8 hours of contents per day, including food shows, talk shows and others.
 
After the China Pavilion Screening & Launch and the panel Animation in the Arab World Countries. Where are we at now?, also moderated by Prensario, the 7th edition of MYCONTENT will conclude. ‘We are very happy with the results of this year, as we saw more companies attending attracted by the growing business in MENA. We will continue gathering international distributors to meet local and regional buyers’, concluded Eng. Anas Al Madani.

Fabricio Ferrara, from Dubai