ISSUE 137 | JANUARY 2022
Licensed by Dubai Development Authority
THE GAME
CHANGERS Saudi Broadcasting Authority takes ambitious steps to attract youth to TV with new gaming championship
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PROINTRO
GROUP Managing Director Raz Islam raz.islam@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 4 375 5471 Managing Partner Vijaya Cherian vijaya.cherian@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 4 375 5472 Director of Finance & Business Operations Shiyas Kareem shiyas.kareem@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 4 375 5474 EDITORIAL Editor Vijaya Cherian vijaya.cherian@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 55 105 3787 Contributing Editor Nusrat Ali Assistant Editor Urooj Fatima Sub Editor Aelred Doyle ADVERTISING Group Sales Director Sandip Virk sandip.virk@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 50 929 1845 +44 (0) 7516 993 862 DESIGN Art Director Simon Cobon Designer Percival Manalaysay MARKETING & EVENTS Events Producer Paul Godfrey paul.godfrey@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 4 375 5470 Social Media & Marketing Executive Gladys DSouza gladys.dsouza@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 4 375 5478 Events Executive Minara Salakhi minara.s@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 4 433 2856 CIRCULATION & PRODUCTION Production Manager Vipin V. Vijay vipin.vijay@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0)4 375 5713 Data & Distribution Manager Phinson Mathew George phinson.george@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0)4 375 5476 DIGITAL SERVICES Abdul Baeis Sadiq Siddiqui
Welcome I wish all of you a happy new year and all the blessings of this season. When we were putting together this issue, I didn’t quite realise how many Saudi-centric features and stories we would be carrying this month, but it appears that the January 2022 issue is all about the Kingdom. From a brand-new gaming tournament commissioned and televised for the first time by Saudi Broadcasting Authority and the number of investment announcements in content announced at the Red Sea International Film Festival, the 40% cash rebate for those choosing to do their productions in the Kingdom, audience measurement and even spectrum management, this edition is teeming with stories. The whole Kingdom is in full gear, and regional and international investments are pouring into the most lucrative television market in the Arab world. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s 2030 Vision has activated all sectors in the country and some of the biggest beneficiaries of this movement have been filmmakers and creatives. Vox Cinemas has announced it will produce 25 films in the next five years; indie film distributor Front Row has
announced a few partnerships over the last few months to push the boundaries of storytelling; Lebanese production major Cedars Art Production teamed up with Saudi company Ritix last month to create a new pan-Arab theatrical distribution label called Arab Motion; Muvi Cinemas, a Saudi brand, has been launching several cineplexes in the country; Telfaz 11 has announced a recent acquisition … the list goes on. Saudi Arabia's desire to rapidly gain lost ground and its heavy injection of capital for the purpose seems to be serving businesses looking for fresh opportunity to sell their services and solutions. It is also creating a solid training ground to nurture a new generation of talent for making films and content to international standards. As the only B2B publication for the Media and Entertainment space in MENA, we are proud to start the new year with stories that mean business. Happy new year.
Vijaya Cherian, Editorial Director
FOUNDER Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015) ISSUE 137 | JANUARY 2022
Licensed by Dubai Development Authority
Published by
The publisher of this magazine has made every effort to ensure the content is accurate on the date of publication. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the publisher and editor. The published material, adverts, editorials and all other content are published in good faith. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publisher in writing. Publication licensed by Dubai Development Authority to CPI Trade Publishing FZ LLC. Printed by Printwell Printing Press LLC.
THE GAME
CHANGERS Saudi Broadcasting Authority takes ambitious steps to attract youth to TV with new gaming championship
On this month's cover…
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Eish Al Tahdi, SBA's original production.
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January 2022 | www.broadcastprome.com | 1
PROCONTENTS
Inside this issue 05 NEWS Vox to produce 25 Arabic films in five years; Telfaz11 acquires indie film company; Saudi Film Commission launches 40% cash rebate incentive; Qatar TV upgrades with Pebble; Minly acquires Oulo; Red Sea Souk offers awards worth $700k; MRC announces TAM roll-out in KSA; and more
16 WHY THE GOOD DOCTOR
DISAPPEARED FROM NETFLIX Heba Korayem discusses why Netflix had to take down The Good Doctor in MENA and navigates content rights in the region
January 2022 M&E STARTUP MINLY ACQUIRES OULO
MRC TO ROLL OUT TAM IN SAUDI ARABIA
14
09 WHY NETFLIX PULLED THE GOOD DOCTOR
SBA WOOS YOUTH TO TV WITH GAMESHOW
18 COVER – GAME CHANGER Eish Al Tahdi, a brandnew gaming championship launched on SBC last month, aims to woo Saudi youth back to traditional TV. BroadcastPro ME brings you the exclusive
16
BROADCASTPRO SUMMIT
18 CURATING CONTENT FOR MENA
24 Experts discuss content
CEOS ON SURVIVING A NEW WORLD ORDER
trends and MENA challenges 30 CEOs on 2021 survival strategies and what lies ahead
36 DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION Nourah AlFayez, Head of Transformation at Google MENA, on reimagining business in the digital realm to accelerate efforts in M&E
30
24 WHY DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION?
5G – OPPORTUNITIES IN BROADCAST
38 NEW 5G OPPORTUNITIES ATEME's Alexandre Arnodin examines applications in broadcast that can potentially benefit from using 5G
48 SPECTRUM IN SAUDI Majed Alkahtani on dynamic spectrum management for KSA’s wireless future
36
38 January 2022 | www.broadcastprome.com | 3
PRONEWS
Vox Cinemas announces plans to produce 25 Arabic films in five years Vox Cinemas has announced a plan to boost regional film production and develop 25 Arabic films in the next five years. The announcement was made at the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, where Vox Cinemas is the exclusive cinema partner. This new commitment to boost homegrown film production is aligned with Saudi Arabia Film Commission’s recently launched strategy to develop the Kingdom’s burgeoning cinema sector. As part of the initiative, Vox Cinemas will continue to support the next generation of homegrown content developers and provide resources for emerging filmmakers to bring their scripts to screen.
Ignace Lahoud, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Leisure, Entertainment & Cinemas.
Vox Cinemas previously provided mentorship to Saudi production company Myrkott, which was instrumental to the box office success of its animated feature film Masameer both locally and regionally.
Ignace Lahoud, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Leisure, Entertainment & Cinemas, said: “We are proud to continue doing our part to invest in the prosperous future of the Kingdom. Cinemas and content production offer tremendous potential for regional economic growth, particularly in Saudi Arabia’s up and coming film industry, which we believe will significantly contribute to Vision 2030. Majid Al Futtaim is aligned with Saudi Film Commission’s plans to develop a burgeoning cinema sector, as attested by our expanding footprint and today’s commitment to produce a slate of 25 Arabic films in the next five years.” “Film has the power not
only to entertain, but to transcend boundaries and advance cultural dialogue. The Middle East has a long history steeped in storytelling and a wealth of emerging talent that has been gaining international prominence in recent years. Given its theme of ‘Metamorphosis’, the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival is the ideal platform to announce our ambitious plan to illuminate the untold and compelling stories from our region on the big screen. As a long-standing supporter of the regional cinema sector, we will continue to champion emerging talent, amplify creative voices and provide audiences with a window into the rich culture of the Arab world.”
Saudi production house acquires indie film company Last Scene Films Saudi entertainment group Telfaz11 has acquired Riyadh-based independent production house Last Scene Films in a deal scaling up its move into feature film production. Founded in 2017 by Mohammed Alhamoud, Last Scene Films has produced the short films Silah and Ertidad, which both travelled to international festivals, while its debut feature Last Visit (2019), directed by Abdulmohsen Aldhabaan, became the first Arab
film selected at the East of the West Competition in the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and won the Jury Award at the 2019 Marrakech International Film Festival. Wael Abumansour joined the company as an executive producer in 2020 and has been developing a wide range of genre-focused films, including Four Acts of Disruption, which won development funding from the Red Sea International Film Festival.
Alhamoud and Abumansour will now join the fold at Telfaz11, reporting to CEO Alaa Fadan. They will continue to oversee the dayto-day of Last Scene Films’ development and production slate, which will now scale up, as well as run Telfaz11’s film festival strategy. Fadan said: “It has always been part of our mission to be catalysts to the local creative culture while being at the forefront of producing new
and fresh Saudi content with massive local appeal and relevance to local culture. With our current strategy to expand and focus our offering in the film and premium content space, we believe that the Last Scene transaction will support us in accelerating our mission and creating long-term value for the company and its shareholders.” Telfaz11 previously struck a deal with Netflix to develop and produce eight films for the service.
January 2022 | www.broadcastprome.com | 5
PRONEWS
Front Row acquires stake in creative agency Operation Unicorn Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired a stake in Beirut-based creative and production agency Operation Unicorn (OU) as the two companies join forces in a bid to transform storytelling in the Middle East. Nathalie Masri, founder of OU, said: “The key to successful content is creative, honest storytelling. We want to inject meaningful, insightful stories into local content, stories that will resonate for an audience that feels mostly shut out or detached from current content.” OU’s award-winning body of work boasts numerous successful campaigns, relying on smart insights, authentic storytelling and strong humour to garner massive success and a wide reach, with some campaigns going viral across digital media in the Middle East. OU’s model has become
From left to right: Gianluca Chakra, Wissam Matar, Nathalie Masri, Anthony Tawil and Jad Aouad.
part of the telecommunications and marketing curriculums in universities, the firm claimed. Likewise, Front Row is also actively working on several original projects through production arm Yalla Yalla, with OU offering creative input and on-the-ground production expertise. Front Row and OU are currently developing several projects, including slice-of-life comedy series From the Bathroom, a couples' dramedy spanning
various Arab countries called Heads or Tails, and a feature film and docu-series that will be unveiled next year. The teams are also working on the Arabic remake of Intouchables, with the aim to start shooting in May 2022. The move merges Front Row’s expertise in acquisitions and distribution with OU’s creative writing and production skills. The two companies will jointly develop original, short-form
content in addition to branded content, podcasts and new formats for the region. Gianluca Chakra, CEO of Front Row, said: “We’re looking to pave the way for a dynamic new phase of regional content. For decades, the industry has been stagnant in the hands of a tight circle of creators working under a stringent set of rules and red lines. In Operation Unicorn, we have an innovative outfit that we’re looking to shake up content with. We intend to break the old formulas and restrictive creative environments while developing powerful and authentic stories that carry the voice of a new generation of creators. To this end, we aim to gather like-minded emerging talent under one umbrella to produce content that will resonate with a diverse set of viewers spanning the Arab and eventually the Western world.”
Shahid VIP Mobile launches in Morocco and Tunisia MBC Group’s streaming platform Shahid VIP will soon be available via a brand-new mobile-only package in Morocco and Tunisia. For users who prefer to stream their entertainment on the go, Shahid VIP Mobile launches on Orange Morocco for MAD 19 ($2.06) and on Orange Tunisia for TND 4.99 ($1.73). Users who sign up before the end of December 2021 will receive an exclusive
6 | www.broadcastprome.com | January 2022
two-month introductory offer with Orange Telecom for free. Natasha MatosHemingway, Group Chief Commercial Officer (VOD) at MBC Group, said: “Our new partnership with Orange Morocco and Orange Tunisia is one we are very excited about, as it offers a convenient way for entertainment fans to access content on the go at an extremely attractive price point.”
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PRONEWS
Qatar TV upgrades from Neptune to new Pebble Automation solution Qatar TV has chosen Pebble to deliver a bespoke automation, playout and management solution as part of its plans to upgrade its system and future proof broadcast operations. It is a long-standing customer, having deployed Pebble’s Neptune Automation software in 2013. In a bid to drive efficiencies in linear playout and improve control of mission-critical operations, Qatar TV commissioned a complete installation of the newer Pebble Automation solution.
It ran this in parallel with Neptune before successfully making the full transition. As part of its systems refresh, Qatar TV’s primary objective was to leverage the functionality that Pebble Automation offers, reducing repetitive tasks and adding increased flexibility. Qatar TV was also on the lookout for a cost-effective solution that would allow it to effectively streamline its workflows. Ali Elsakka, Head of Engineering at Qatar TV, said: “We have had the pleasure to work with Pebble
for a number of years now and upgrading to Pebble Automation was the next step in improving our broadcast workflows and operational efficiency. Pebble offered a simple migration path, with the reassurance of a seamless transition from Neptune to the powerful capabilities of Pebble Automation. We’re delighted with the success of the project and excellent continued support from all the teams involved at Pebble, and look forward to continuing to work with them for many years to come.”
Pebble maintains a strong presence in the Middle East, with its solutions controlling more than 400 channels across 17 countries at around 70 sites. Samir Isbaih, VP of Sales at Pebble, said: “Qatar is a key market for us in the region, and having successfully taken Qatar TV to air has been hugely rewarding. We look forward to building on the success we are having in the Middle East as we continue to invest in resources and R&D and delivering solutions to meet the ever-changing needs of broadcasters.”
YouTube launches fund for MENA short-form video creation YouTube has launched a YouTube Shorts Fund in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon and Morocco. Starting last month, the company began to reward creators and artists who make creative and unique Shorts. The global $100m fund was initially announced in May and is already available in a number of markets around the world. Shorts is a new feature YouTube rolled out in July for anyone who wants to create short-form videos using their phone. As of July 2021, videos in YouTube’s Shorts player – which helps people around the world watch short videos on YouTube – are receiving
over 15bn daily views. Tarek Amin, Director of YouTube MENA, said: “Since rolling out Shorts in
8 | www.broadcastprome.com | January 2022
the Middle East and North Africa earlier this year, we’ve seen great growth in viewership and creation.
The Shorts Fund was the logical next step as we build our long-term monetisation plan for Shorts. YouTube has helped an entire generation of creators and artists turn their creativity into businesses, and in MENA the number of creators earning five and six figures from YouTube continues to grow year on year. The fund is yet another tool in YouTube’s storytelling toolbox.” Qualifying channels can earn anywhere between $100 and $10,000 a month to start, with bonus payment amounts adjusted based on total Shorts performance and audience location. YouTube plans to expand the fund to more countries in coming months.
PRONEWS
MENA M&E startup Minly acquires celebrity shoutout platform Oulo Minly has acquired Dubaibased celebrity shoutout platform Oulo, a video gifting platform with more than 300 celebrities across Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The merged business will operate under the Minly brand and roll out its combined experience offerings across the GCC. As part of the transaction, Oulo founder and CEO Kamal Nazha will join Minly as Chief Commercial Officer. The global creator economy market exceeds $100bn in value and is still growing. Minly’s growth strategy for this market is developing a full-stack
Oulo CEO Kamal Nazha with Mohamed El-Shinnawy, CEO of Minly.
product suite empowering content creators to deliver meaningful experiences across multiple media to their fan base audiences. Mohamed El-Shinnawy, co-founder and CEO of Minly, said: “Consumers want authentic access
to celebrities more than ever before, while stars need platforms to connect personally with their fan base. These market dynamics are very powerful, and scale is a competitive differentiator. Minly and Oulo share a common passion to create
Muvi opens eight-screen cineplex in Riyadh
The cineplex at Muvi Salaam Mall was designed by well-known architect Chapman Taylor.
Chapman Taylor, a global architect and master planner, has announced the opening of an eightscreen Muvi cineplex at Muvi Salaam Mall in Riyadh. The 3,274sqm cineplex is in the
suburban Alawali area and can accommodate 1,045 moviegoers. “Working for and with leading industry names, Chapman Taylor has decades of experience in creating
state-of-the-art cinema environments which enhance moviegoers’ experience and maximise value and impact for the cinema developers,” said Rebecca Farmer, Design Manager (Dubai). A specialist in site supervision and project management, Farmer regularly acts both as technical lead and liaison between clients and contractors on major construction projects. She joined Chapman Taylor’s Dubai studio in 2019, working onsite on many of the group’s cinema projects in Saudi Arabia.
authentic enjoyable moments by connecting creators with their fans in unique ways, so we’re very excited about our future together in this fast-growing market.” Minly’s platform currently has more than 130,000 users and 1,000 celebrities, including Tamer Hosny, Fifi Abdou and Dorra Zarrouk. Complementing its personalised video shoutouts, voice notes and direct text messages, it recently launched its Minly Watch service where people can virtually attend online events performed by the region’s biggest stars, from anywhere in the world.
Hrithik Roshan wraps up Abu Dhabi shoot Hrithik Roshan has wrapped up the first schedule of thriller Vikram Vedha in Abu Dhabi, and co-star Saif Ali Khan has commenced the second schedule in Lucknow. The film is a Hindi remake of the Tamil original released in 2017 starring R Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi. Hrithik shot over a schedule spanning 27 days in Abu Dhabi. The movie is helmed by Pushkar and Gayathri, who also directed the Tamil action thriller.
January 2022 | www.broadcastprome.com | 9
PRONEWS
Saudi Film Commission announces 40% cash rebate for shooting in KSA Saudi Film Commission has launched an initiative to help local and international production companies to shoot movies in the Kingdom. The commission said that incoming fiction features, documentaries and animation projects shooting in Saudi Arabia will be eligible for a cash rebate worth up to 40% in qualifying costs. The initiative strives to provide aspiring film talent with a platform to develop and grow in the
sector by providing training programmes, including onthe-job training locally and internationally, which will help create more permanent job opportunities within the local film industry. Abdullah Al Eyaf, CEO of Saudi Film Commission, said: “We have been working hard to develop a competitive incentive package for local and international movie makers and content creators. Our ambition is high, we want Saudi to become a global hub
for film, creative production and industry talent. The benefits of developing a world-class film industry go beyond the sector and will strengthen the Saudi cultural ecosystem as a whole, driving economic growth and creating jobs across the country.” Of the various global models for film incentives, the film commission will rely on cash rebates repaid to producers as a percentage of qualifying expenditure. Organised by the Saudi Film
Commission, the scheme is expected to receive its first applications by the end of Q1 2022, with a new platform set to be launched. The commission aims to cover the expenses that come with production projects, covering the expenses of producers, directors, lead actors and screenwriters, as well as covering the expenses of production site crews and expenses related to rental equipment and designated production sites.
Muvi Cinemas and Telfaz11 to launch Wadi Cinema Saudi exhibitor Muvi Cinemas and local producer Telfaz11 have teamed up to launch Wadi Cinema, an initiative to promote independent feature films from filmmakers throughout the MENA region and the world. Wadi Cinema will launch as a pop-up experience at the Diriyah
Biennale from December 16 until March 11, 2022, at Riyadh’s JAX District, where 63 artists’ works are being showcased. Sultan AlHokair, CEO of Muvi Cinemas, said: “The best way to experience cinema is in a theatre, where audiences can break away from their everyday lives to watch a filmmaker’s vision come
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to life. When we partnered with Telfaz11, we wanted to find innovative ways to bring the experience of independent and critically acclaimed films from renowned film festivals to audiences throughout the kingdom.” Wadi Cinemas will drive awareness and amplify its film selection across both partners’ platforms and will leverage Telfaz11’s reach to 29m subscribers and followers across social media. The industry is expected to see an increase in local film output as soon as next year. Telfaz11 is in various phases of production on multiple projects as part of its eightpicture deal with Netflix to develop and produce a slate of films for both Arab and global audiences.
Fatafeat integrated into first Arabic Alexa Fatafeat, Discovery Inc.’s Arabic food network in the Middle East, has announced its integration as a skill on the Arabic version of Alexa. Using Alexa’s Fatafeat skill, viewers can cook Fatafeat recipes by asking Alexa for verbal instructions in fluent Arabic and its dialects. Viewers can unlock Alexa’s Fatafeat skill through Amazon’s Echo devices.
PRONEWS
Red Sea Souk offers awards worth $700k
The winners of the Red Sea Souk Awards.
Red Sea International Film Festival has announced the winners of the Red Sea Souk Awards. More than $700,000 was awarded to selected projects, with funds provided by the Red Sea Fund as well as industry sponsors. Zain Zedan, Red Sea Souk Manager, said: “We presented the Souk awards to an exceptional selection of new and established voices in filmmaking, including numerous women powerhouses..” Five cash awards were
granted by the Red Sea Souk Jury. Contra by Lotfy Nathan received a grant of $30,000, while Akashinga by Naishe Hassan Nyamubaya was awarded $25,000 and the $100,000 Red Sea Souk Award went to AÏCHA by Mehdi M. Barsaoui. The two Red Sea Lodge awards, each worth $100,000, were awarded to The Zarqa Girl by Zaid Abuhamdan and The Photographer of Madina by Dalyah Bakheet. A Special Mention Award worth $15,000 was given
to Birthday by Lara Zeidan. Three films in postproduction received awards. The Cemetery of Cinema by Thierno Souleymane Diallo and Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous by Wissam Charaf received awards worth $10,000 . The third, a full-colour grading package worth $15,000, was presented to Fragments from Heaven by Adnane Baraka. Leyth Production, a Tunisian film production company, presented the Leyth Production Award for
Sound Mixing, worth $15,000, to Abdelinho by Hicham Ayouch in post-production. Arab Cinema Centre presented the ACC award with participation in the 2022 Rotterdam Lab to Saudi winner Zeba by Arar Qarim and Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo by Khaled Mansour. MAD solutions presented a $50,000 Distribution Award to The Seasons of Jannet by Mehdi Hmili, and Cinewaves Films, a Saudi distribution company, presented the Cinewaves Film Distribution $50,000 award to Zeba. The Arab Radio and Television Network (ART) presented two awards. MONTREAL by Ameen Nayfeh won the ART Distribution Award, worth $50,000. The second award, worth $50,000, was given to Within Sand by Mo Alatawi. The Shahid Distribution Award, worth $100,000, went to Hala’s Aziz by Jawaher Alamri.
Image Nation’s Watcher to premiere at Sundance Film Festival Image Nation Abu Dhabi’s psychological thriller Watcher is set to have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this month. Directed by award-winning writer/ director Chloe Okuno, the film stars Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman and Burn Gorman. It is a co-production between Image Nation Abu Dhabi and Spooky Pictures, and will compete in the US dramatic competition.
Okuno said: “I am honoured to have my first feature-length film
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premiere at Sundance. This was an amazing project to work on, and I am so
pleased Watcher is getting this wonderful platform for its world premiere.” Ben Ross, Chief Content Officer of Image Nation Abu Dhabi, said: “Watcher is another example of Image Nation’s international co-productions pioneering Abu Dhabi’s film industry, and we look forward to seeing this project’s continued success.” Watcher is based on an original spec by tyro screenwriter Zack Ford.
PRONEWS
Istikana chief announces ambitious plans for streaming service in 2022 Jordanian SVOD streaming platform Istikana, part of Arab Media Network (AMN), has big plans for 2022 with “a more clear and differentiated content strategy”, CEO Tareq Abu-Lughod told BroadcastPro ME. It has ambitious plans to expand its portfolio of content with predominantly Arabic independent films (short and feature) and documentaries from and around the MENA. It also plans to enhance its
Tareq Abu-Lughod, CEO of Arab Media Network, the company behind Istikana.
technology and explore new distribution channels with major mobile operators and entities serving Arabic communities globally. “There is a need from young Arabic filmmakers to showcase their films globally, and we are becoming that vehicle for a much wider audience,” Abu-Lughod said. Istikana saw considerable uptake when it transitioned from an AVOD to an SVOD
Royal Media Services upgrades radio station with Lawo AoIP
Banat Abdul Rahman snags People’s Choice Award at Cairo International Film Festival Jordanian film Banat Abdul Rahman won the People’s Choice Award at the Cairo International Film Festival 2021. Set in a poor neighbourhood in Amman, the film follows the journey of four sisters leading very different lives, each struggling to overcome personal and social struggles and taboos. Banat Abdul Rahman is the debut feature of Jordanian writer/director Zaid Abu Hamdan. It is produced by Pan East Media, Lagoonie Films and Arab Media Network, with support from the Royal Film Commission of Jordan. Tareq Abu-Lughod, CEO of Arab Media Network, which will also handle its release in Jordan,
said: “This is our first feature film production after producing four shorts last year. We are excited to have it released commercially across the MENA through our distribution partner, Mad Solutions. The People’s Award is an indication that we are moving in the right direction, creating relevant films on budgets that are commercially viable and fit for both theatrical and digital releases.The possibility of having small local films reach regional/ global audiences through theatrical screenings and digital streaming platforms will encourage and enable more cross-border coproductions in the future and create a new wave of Arabic independent films."
model and moved into developed markets like the US, Canada and Europe. “We first targeted the MENA market, being an Arabiclanguage streaming service, but quickly realised that advertising spend was low and later that payment was, and still remains, an issue. We went international three years ago and have since witnessed considerably greater interest in our content abroad,” he added.
New EMEA role for Mark Gardner at Ross Mark Gardner has been appointed new Director of Sales for EMEA at Ross. He joined Ross last year as Regional Sales Director for EMEA North and has overseen the expansion of the team and company footprint in the region. This role puts Gardner in charge of Ross' ambitious growth plan for the whole EMEA territory.
Kenya’s Royal Media Services has upgraded its radio station with Lawo’s IP-based AoIP. Following the successful installations of Lawo mixing consoles at other RMS radio stations, a new 12-fader crystal console has now gone into service at Nairobi-based Radio Citizen, which broadcasts nationwide on the 14 stations of the RMS network. Project management and installation were handled by system integrator BYCE Broadcast.
January 2022 | www.broadcastprome.com | 13
PROTAM
Media Rating Company to roll out TV audience measurement with Nielsen in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia’s Media Rating Company (MRC) announced plans for a phased roll-out of its much-awaited TV and Video Audience Measurement (TAM) service, in partnership with Nielsen in the Kingdom. The announcement was made at the Westin Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina in Dubai by Eng Bandar Al Mashhadi, CEO of MRC. Al Mashhadi outlined MRC’s five-year plan, which will see the service go live in July 2022 with an initial focus on data for TV and streaming services and other digital devices, gaming measurement by November 2022, media data for
consumption on various devices by July 2023, radio measurement details by January 2024 and print measurement by January 2025. The solution will be implemented in partnership with global audience measurement and data provider Nielsen and has been licensed by Saudi Arabia’s General Commission for Audio Visual (GCAM) and Advertising Industry Board. Al Mashhadi, who previously headed the Technical Committee overseeing the development of the initiative, said: “It is an honour to be here today and share details about
MRC announced its TAM strategy in Dubai last month.
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this groundbreaking TAM solution, which will contribute to the growth of a dynamic media and broadcast sector in Saudi Arabia in line with the goals of Vision 2030. Audience behaviours are evolving rapidly as the Kingdom continues its remarkable transformation, making it more important than ever to introduce robust TV measurement technology. We are proud to partner with Nielsen to gain a deeper understanding of Saudi viewers’ preferences and deliver accurate data that will help to drive effective, highly targeted campaigns.” Nielsen currently measures TV
PROTAM
Eng Bandar Al Mashhadi shared a five-year roadmap with media agencies in Dubai.
audiences in 37 markets globally, more than any other international TAM provider, commented Sarah Messer, Managing Director, Nielsen Media MENAP. In her address, she stated that 2,000 sample households, representative of the entire 35m population of Saudi Arabia including expatriates from 24 cities across KSA, will be chosen for TAM. She added that anyone who is part of the marketable population from the age of four and above will be considered as part of the sampling, though domestic workers will not be included. She also stated that the measurement was comparable to established TAM markets. As part of this project, 150 channels will be measured and 50 monitored. The People Meter will be installed on every working TV set in each panel home, used to collect audio fingerprints and audience data. A streaming meter will also be installed in each household with broadband and Wi-Fi to monitor streaming activities. Data captured by the installed meters will be transmitted regularly to the data collection facility. A special facility has been set up to capture 24x7 unique audio fingerprints for 150 channels used by audio matching. Audio fingerprints from meters are matched to audio fingerprints from Nielsen reference sites, to identify viewing on each TV. A data production platform will then manage all the processes of data collection, validation and consolidation into a daily database. In addition, there will be a monitoring system to produce programme
and spot data for 50 channels. On a daily basis, all data subscribers can download the previous day’s data to perform complex analyses using the data analysis software. Nielsen, which established an office in Saudi Arabia for this purpose, is working closely with the General Authority for Statistics (GAStat) to define the population to be represented and its characteristics. The operational set-up for the service is making progress, with meter installations in households across the Kingdom. Nano People Meters, claimed as the latest metering technology, will be installed in each home to capture data from eight people per meter. The solution employs cutting-edge technology to deliver a precise picture of the size and demographics of television audiences and reveal how people engage with content. So far, 62 meters have been installed. The team hopes to have installed them in 1,000 households and have the initial batch of data available by April 2022, with the project set to go fully live by July 2022, providing the market with data from 2,000 households. “TAM data can give you the ability to make data-led decisions,” commented Messer. “The key viewing metrics will
be live, VOSDAL [viewed on the same day as live] and TSV + 7 [time-shifted viewing within seven days]. The two technologies we have for measurement are state-of-the-art, so we expect to provide a lot of new data and metrics.” Al Mashhadi commented that MRC is committed to integrating the latest innovations in consumer electronics to ensure it remains at the forefront of measuring audience behaviours. KSA TAM is audited by 3M3A, which audits similar projects in more than 10 other countries and is supervised by a Technical Committee representing key industry stakeholders. For the first time in the Kingdom, the solution will include a digital measurement that captures OTT streaming services over home Wi-Fi, providing insights on viewing habits across both linear and digital services. He also encouraged clients in the audience to engage and interact with the Tech Committee, which hopes to include more people from the media industry in building the solution. The event concluded with a panel discussion examining the project’s seismic impact on the Saudi media sector. MRC intends to host a launch event in Saudi Arabia with key guests and media representatives to officially kick off the project in Q1 2022. PRO
Eng Bandar Al Mashhadi, CEO of MRC, with Sarah Messer, MD of Nielsen Media MENAP.
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PROOTT
How a Netflix breach led to a subscriber boom for StarzPlay Netflix is estimated to have around 442,000 subscribers in the UAE, the most in the Arabic-speaking world. If you’re a MENA subscriber, you are likely to have received a generic marketing email on Thursday, September 2 at around 1pm Dubai time, advertising the top 10 trending shows in the UAE for the month. One was The Good Doctor, a fiveseason American medical drama adapted from a Korean format. That day, MENA viewers joyfully bingeing the series were disappointed to find the last two seasons abruptly pulled from the Netflix MENA library, without any warning or explanation. Confused users ranted on social media to check whether other people faced the same issue. Facebook’s Real Mums UAE group, which has more than 43,000 members, had three separate threads discussing the show’s sudden removal and where to find it.
“I was on episode 16 of season 3. I had it on pause, and when I came back, the whole thing was gone like it was never there,” commented Sarah, who had just put the kids to bed and
The Good Doctor is an American medical drama series adapted from a Korean format.
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was eager for her nightly viewing. Some users contacted Netflix Customer Service and were told, “We are working on restoring the show and it will be back soon.” At least five comments on one thread mentioned StarzPlay – for example, “Ladies, you can watch it on StarzPlay; you can access it if you are a du subscriber!” It was clear that some people weren’t familiar with Starzplay, and they thanked the poster for the suggestion. Venturing out of content consumption into the world of content rights trading, situations like these are usually a result of breach of rights, a concept that the Netflix customer service team probably has a very hard time explaining to disappointed subscribers. Breaches like this happen due to bulk licensing deals and overlapping rights windows that need to be managed across hundreds of territories. In other countries, they can result in court cases and hefty fines. In our part of the content trading world, it’s not uncommon for distributors to mis-sell content rights or for broadcasters or platforms to offer content that hasn’t been properly rights cleared, whether as a genuine mistake or ‘accidentally on purpose’ – the rights management tool was broken that day, the distributor who sold the rights hadn’t been updated on the difference between streaming and linear rights. Another recent example of sudden removal is American supernatural series Manifest. According to Leila Laila, a media & entertainment lawyer, holdback provisions are very common in licensing agreements, especially when it comes to international licensing of video assets. Holdbacks limit a party’s ability to fully exploit the rights of a video asset even
PROOTT
though it remains in their control. “It gets tricky when the holdback period refers to an event – for example, following the first release of the last episode of season X by company Y, which I believe has happened in this case, instead of referring to a specific date or geographical location,” she said. “Good for StarzPlay!” We can leave the justifications to the content rights police. This piece is about what happened next. Netflix MENA subscribers didn’t need to dig deep to find out which app to download to be able to enjoy the rest of their beloved series. Social media very promptly did that job, because on the very next day the StarzPlay app had a big jump, landing in first place as the country’s most downloaded app, beating TikTok, Netflix and Shahid. If StarzPlay or any other OTT platform dedicates resources to detecting breaches and holdbacks for high-rated shows, it will have powerful marketing campaigns funded by a competitor and fuelled by social media, with zero marketing budget. You can’t blame Netflix’s algorithms for boosting high-performing titles. That’s what they’re coded to do. But in this case, things could have been better coordinated. Moral of the story: if you’re an
OTT Content Acquisition Strategist for a popular global platform, it might be a good idea to secure rights for full show seasons across territories, especially if you’re trying to gain traction in difficult foreign markets. Either that, or maybe enroll your algorithms in an AI training course. PRO Heba Korayem is Content Market & Distribution Consultant at H.consult.
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GAME CHANGER 18 | www.broadcastprome.com | January 2022
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Eish Al Tahdi (Live the Challenge) is a brand-new gaming championship that launched on SBC last month and aims to woo the Kingdom’s youth back to traditional TV. Created by Saudi Broadcasting Authority in conjunction with industry veteran Khulud Abu Homos, founder and CEO of Dubai-based Art Format Lab (AFL), the thrilling standoff is a Middle East first and promises to take the thriving domestic gaming industry to a whole new level January 2022 | www.broadcastprome.com | 19
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KSA's first televised gaming tournament brings together 96 contestants from the Kingdom.
Eish Al Tahdi is the first gameshow format attempted for the video gaming industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is simulcast on SBC’s new Twitch account and its AlOula OTT platform every Saturday for 16 weeks, having started on December 4. SBA’s mandate under new CEO Mohammed Fahad Al-Harthi is to create a content strategy that attracts the Kingdom’s young people, a large part of the population, to traditional TV. With almost 50% of Saudis considering themselves to be gamers, according to a 2021 study led by the Saudi Arabian Federation for Electronic and Intellectual Sports and Ministry of Sports, Eish Al Tahdi seems to be heading in the right direction. “Saudi Arabia is currently the 19th biggest gaming market in the world, with more than 21.2m gamers across the country,” says Al-Harthi. “In March 2021, Saudi Arabia’s gaming market size was estimated at SAR 2.6bn ($700m) and is expected to reach SAR9.5bn ($2.53bn) by 2030. Its annual growth rate is 22%, which is among the highest in the world. We wanted
“The idea of bringing video gaming to television is quite new to this part of the world and I was excited to be one of the first to execute such a project” Khulud Abu Homos, founder and CEO, Art Format Lab (AFL) to attract this population to our channels and ensure that we were an integral part of their entertainment.”
Khulud Abu Homos,
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Game on With AFL’s success in creating different programmes and formats for MENA audiences under the leadership of Khulud Abu Homos, SBA approached her. She explains: “SBA commissioned us to develop a format for competition based on video gaming for their SBC channel. I have always been intrigued by the video gaming industry, because my 12-year-old son is an avid gamer. As he connected with players from around the globe, I realised how big e-gaming is – it’s almost as big as the internet transformation! The idea of bringing video gaming to television, however, is quite new to this part of the world and I was excited to be one of the first to execute such a project.” A 100-member team worked with Art Format Lab to manage every aspect from concept to execution: recruiting gamers, organising the event, producing it for TV, planning parallel programmes for online services and post-production. Ibrahim Alfarhan, Manager of Programs and Content, elaborates. “This is the first time we are targeting the gaming community, which mostly consists of a very young crowd. Owing to the nature of the show and its unique target audience, we decided to create a dedicated destination for gaming fans under the URL LivethechallengeKSA, and we go by the same name on Twitch, Instagram, YouTube and other social media platforms, making it a trailblazing gaming event.” Format Most video gaming championships are based on one game, but Eish Al Tahdi is based on seven of the most popular games in the Kingdom, with genres ranging from car racing and soccer to street fighting. The 16-episode championship is compered by three hosts: Rakan Al Shaye, presenter and video games expert; Mashael
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The teams in action.
Besides the competition itself, each episode features a VIP guest influencer and a news segment hosted by a popular gaming journalist.
Mohammed, owner of the biggest girl gamer YouTube channel in the Saudi community; and Ahmed Al Kiyadi, owner of VGA4A and a video game and media content creator. Chosen from across the Kingdom, 96 players divided into 16 teams battle it out for the grand prize of SAR 200,000 ($53,315). Twelve of the teams are composed of seasoned players, while the rest are newcomers quickly rising on the Saudi gaming scene. During each one-hour episode, the hosts introduce two team leaders and the other team members, who compete in three stages, on three popular games. The competition starts off in a 1v1 format, then 4v4, then finally 6v6. Each episode also features a VIP guest influencer and a segment hosted by a popular gaming journalist, who presents the latest gaming news and developments. Gaming championships are usually not televised, but rather limited to YouTube and Twitch/OTT channels, explains Abu Homos. “With Eish Al Tahdi, we successfully combined three mediums: the studio where the live audience was seated, the traditional television broadcast and OTT. Bringing video gaming stations into the studio translated into two broadcasts happening concurrently. The first was the streaming of the video games themselves between players; the other was regular studio production, where 12 cameras and 17 GoPros were used to record all the action.” This was a learning experience, since the gaming community and specific game developers have stringent rules on how games are played and on what devices, and how they are monetised and broadcast in the public domain. SBA and AFL had to keep in line with the rules of each game without compromising on quality. This necessitated a dedicated Eish Al Tahdi Twitch channel, as some games could not be televised – only highlights could be shown. The
January 2022 | www.broadcastprome.com | 21
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show thus required a sophisticated mix of advanced broadcast and broadband technologies, cuttingedge gaming stations and captivating dual-sense solutions, accentuated by an innovative format. Game tech Due to the Eish Al Tahdi target audience, the look and feel of the set had to be young and vibrant, with a charged-up vibe. “Gamers tend to play in the dark, so the studio aesthetic had to match that look and feel,” says Abu Homos. At the centre of the gaming action, therefore, is an uber-cool 1,500sqm studio, a visual spectacle of neon red and blue lights cutting through sleek black interiors. The studio in Riyadh, one of the few with an infrastructure suited to broadcast requirements, had a tech makeover and was fitted with fibre optics capable of handling two parallel transmissions (one for the games themselves and the other for traditional television streaming). “We hired a company that was specialised in creating and customising gaming stations that complied with the rules of each of the video games,” says Abu
Contestants are aged between 16 and 22.
Homos. For instance, the console for the car racing games had to have wheels and some games could only be played on a mobile device. Such requirements had to be factored into the design. While all players are fighting for the grand prize, there are no losers. At the end of each episode, participants who
“Gamers tend to play in the dark, so the studio aesthetic had to match that look and feel” Khulud Abu Homos, founder and CEO, Art Format Lab (AFL)
The sets were specifically designed to reflect the colours and ambience representative of young gamers' spaces.
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don’t make it to the next round take home valuable gaming essentials such as consoles, gaming chairs and gaming currency cards. Rising to the challenge Eish Al Tahdi is an ambitious, big-budget production that pushes the boundaries for Saudi Arabia. Abu Homos admits that even for a seasoned producer like herself, some of this was virgin territory and very daunting, but she stepped into it like an adventure. Dealing with young people and discovering a parallel universe of gamers and Twitch,
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The set for Eish Al Tahdi.
understanding their lingo and culture, was a huge learning experience. Apart from the expensive set and gaming tech, the producers also had other challenges in the human element. Recruiting 96 participants from across the nation and bringing them to Riyadh for the shoot was a logistical nightmare. With contestants aged 16-22, AFL had to secure parental consent for those under 18. Then there are the 16 VIP gaming influencer guests, with fees rumoured to be on a par with those of top actors. Keeping participants who lost in early rounds engaged and interested in the remaining episodes was equally important. Is the programme commercially viable, one wonders? “Despite its high production costs, revenue has not been the focus of this inaugural season,” says Al Harithi. “Our aim has been to develop and execute a
advancements in this sphere, with Dual Sense technology for audio and visually impaired players; joysticks, controllers and consoles that give an actual feel of the gaming terrain (for instance, water or sand); and eye controllers for players with restricted mobility. While the technology available for players with special needs is impressive, not enough video games support it. This has led SBA to create an awareness campaign, #givemeavoice, which supports the development of games for enthusiasts with limited abilities. SBA and AFL are now looking forward to creating season two of Eish Al Tahdi. “The championship is a crucial part of SBA’s content transformation plan, and we plan to bring more such surprises to our audience in the coming months,” says Al Harithi. - Vijaya Cherian and Nusrat Ali
championship for traditional TV with the goal of attracting our younger audiences. Our extensions into Twitch have been quite new and exciting for SBA, but we are really pleased to see our youth join us on traditional television.” Giving back The Eish Al Tahdi USP is its inclusivity, with the participation of visually impaired players. As AFL delved deeper into competitive gaming, Abu Homos says she was surprised by the technological
KSA’s Gaming Market With Saudi Arabia diversifying its economy away from oil, technology is one of the keystones of the country’s plan, and video gaming is a significant part of that. In its Vision 2030 reform plan, Saudi Arabia aims for the gaming industry to account for close to 1% of the economy (roughly $21bn) by 2030 from both direct and indirect job creation and GDP creation through the gaming and esports industry. Evidence of how much the video gaming industry means to Saudi Arabia is evident from recent investments. Last month, a subsidiary of the crown prince’s charitable organisation – the Mohamed bin Salman Foundation – purchased a one-third stake in SNK Corp, the Japanese developer of King of Fighters and Samurai Shodown; and at the end of 2020, the Public Investment Fund acquired more than $3bn worth of stock in three US game makers: Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive Software.
Under KSA’s Game Mode initiative, the country’s telcos are being pushed to provide the best experience for gamers, increase market transparency and give investors and the public key data and indicators on the sector’s performance. There’s also a quarterly award for the internet service provider with the best gaming response time. Saudi is actively developing a robust gaming eco-system through sponsorships for professional gamers, an increase in the number of gaming cafés and more competition arenas. Last year, the Sarena SAFEIS complex in Riyadh hosted the inaugural eMBS Cup, a knock-out competition for elite teams from the Electronic Saudi Professional League (eSPL). Saudi’s gaming arenas are open to female gamers, a revolutionary step in a predominantly male domain. 90% of Saudi females play mobile
games, compared to 83% of males. Apart from the financial and technological investments, Saudi is taking the human element seriously too. Mosaad ‘Msdossary’ Aldossary gained acclaim as the country’s 2018 FIFA eWorld Cup champion, while the Saudi eSports team won the Tekken 7 competition at the 2018 IESF Esports World Championship. Last year, 23-yearold Najd Fahd became the first female winner of a FIFA competition, gaining the nickname ‘Saudi Arabia’s daughter’. NEOM, Saudi’s AI-run smart city, will include an esports academy and its Tuwaiq1000 initiative will upskill the country’s youth in game development, cybersecurity, AI and data science. Saudi Arabia has capitalised on the potential of competitive video gaming to contribute billions of dollars to the Kingdom’s business, job creation and gross domestic product.
January 2022 | www.broadcastprome.com | 23
PROCONTENT
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PROCONTENT
CURATING CONTENT FOR A DIVERSE MENA AUDIENCE As content continues to drive consumption across a panoramic OTT backdrop, a panel of experts at the ASBU BroadcastPro Summit explored strategies to entertain the diverse audiences of the MENA region. Kalyani Gopinath summarises the discussion
CREATIVE VENTURE
MBC GROUP
Badih Fattouh
JAWWY TV
Tony Saab
Samar Akrouk
GENOMEDIA
Wesam Kattan
Curating Content for a Diverse MENA Audience was the theme at the informative opening session of the panel discussion at the recent ASBU BroadcastPro Summit. The content panel looked at how we can reach audiences and scale, and discussed originals, adaptations, Arabic content and what formats work for the MENA region. Sharing the stage on the specialist panel were Samar Akrouk, Group Director of Production, MBC Group; Tony Saab, VP of Content Production and Integration,
BLUE ENGINE STUDIOS
Ziad Kebbi
Jawwy TV; Wesam Kattan, VP Content, Genomedia; and Ziad Kebbi, CEO of Blue Engine Studios. Promising to keep the listeners “physically and spiritually” up was moderator Badih Fattouh, CEO of Creative Venture, who opened the debate by asking Samar Akrouk to talk about the status and demand for non-scripted consumption and viewership in an era of mobile consumption while navigating the production and commissioning of non-scripted content at MBC Group, the biggest network in the region.
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Tony Saab (third from left) commented that the Arab world has many stories to tell and they must be scripted by local, not international, talent.
With no drop in demand, Akrouk was emphatic about the thirst for unscripted content and maintained that budget structures have changed due to market conditions. “The actual output of my team -- producing inhouse and outsourcing to production companies – has been on the rise, and we are producing not just for our pan-Arab audiences but increasing production in our specialised channels as well. With regard to unscripted on our digital platforms (AVOD or SVOD), I see that trend also increasing and we believe unscripted content can help contribute or be a potential strategy to help with the churn of users on SVOD.” Akrouk also revealed how increasing the production of unscripted content has given MBC the ability to diversify into different genres, pointing to how Netflix has introduced a world of unscripted content. “Content is content, good storytelling is good storytelling, and at the end of the day any platform will have to have a combination of both scripted and unscripted.” Fattouh then asked Kattan how the rise in VOD has affected production values and demand for scripted content since the introduction of VOD platforms to the region and the change in the content landscape. “It’s amazing how fast we have grown in such a short while with demand for shorter series and non-traditional genres. Even back
in 2018, we were telling producers we were looking for eight to ten episodes; it was something that people were working around, and now it’s the norm.” As the audience continues to consume more international content than ever before, production houses will be competing with each other for the time spent on VOD or TV. “With original content, we can talk about what kind works on VOD, but as Samar said, it all comes down to good storytelling. And
“When you’re initially creating a format, you are not giving it a nationality; it’s just an idea that is universal, a structure that can work in any market” Ziad Kebbi, CEO, Blue Engine Studios
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as producers and commissioners, our focus should be on how we take storytelling to that level,” added Kebbi. Has the momentum on VOD steered production in a different direction for OTT players, consequently widening the subscriber base? Saab noted that while growth on VODs was good, “linear platforms maintained their power too”. Having set out to produce and commission content, and then turned super aggregator in the region with Jawwy TV, Saab’s team has more than 250 linear channels with a focus on getting all major international SVOD services on the platform, recently closing a deal with Discovery Plus and a large local OTT player to soon become the biggest base of users in the region. “We want to offer our platform to everybody and not compete with anyone. Our focus will be on aggregating content from all suppliers, for linear and video on demand,” Saab stated. As far as the full impact of VODs on production companies is concerned, it is still early days as both international and local streamers are vying “to find a balance within this landscape”, said Kebbi. “It is the beginning stages, and I believe it will get better in the future. When there are more clients it becomes more complicated, not less, because you have to offer different original ideas to every streamer. You have to wait for a process to happen.” Zooming out, Fattouh asked for Kebbi’s perspective on freeto-air and the market in terms of challenges and opportunities. “The Arab world is very unique and very special. We are 22 countries and we speak the same language, but we have different content requirements. What I have noted is vision-driven commissioning, vision meaning countries setting their own vision for the future and then driving content to serve that purpose, so that’s an opportunity,” he said. “Free-to-air continues to struggle
PROCONTENT
with the Covid impact. Less advertising means less budgets, so we have to find ways to produce at less cost. The explosion of scripted in originals for the region, with the rise of SVOD and FTA, is an opportunity; the challenge is to be able to come up with the right content with the right ideas that will work in every area. We should not cater to the actor; the story has to come first, we need to serve the story and not the actor.” Fattouh then asked why the export of content is not happening in a systematic manner in the region, despite its having the financial and creative skillset. From a network point of view, Akrouk agreed they get asked why they cannot come up with their own ideas. “The honest answer is that we are still a developing market and so our grid is heavy with formats that come from mature, developed markets. I see these formats as structures that are tried and tested, with international expertise and international experiences; however, the content in itself is extraordinarily local in its approach.” As an independent producer, Kebbi’s response was along similar lines. “A format is the structure of an idea, it is the way you execute, and unfortunately we do not have all the tools to come up with a structure that can travel. I am not saying that as individuals we cannot, but in terms of the landscape of the industry itself, we are not there yet.” Here is where risk-taking comes into play. In a challenging market such as the MENA region, commissioning something untested will always be a gamble, as production houses need to take that huge financial risk of spending money on something that may or may not work. “Globally, risk-taking markets are very few, even the United States is a risk-averse market. It is Holland and the United Kingdom that have an output of maybe 60-70% each year of new formats that have never been tried
“The honest answer is that we are still a developing market and so our grid is heavy with formats that come from mature, developed markets” Samar Akrouk, Group Director of Production, MBC Group before. They have this source of people who are willing to take risks,” said Kebbi. “But it is also worth mentioning at this point that when you’re initially creating a format, you are not giving it a nationality; it’s just an idea that is universal, a structure that can work in any market.” It all boils down to storytelling again, said Kattan. “Good stories that are tested and proven with strong structures, as Samar was saying, just comes down to the craft and the ability of the creative team to adapt it to the region, which I think there are fine examples here of Ziad and Samar’s team, in their ability to do that creatively.” A unique feature of content that travels is identity. Aside from the American and UK examples, content that travels the world today
(specifically from Spain, South Korea, Turkey and the Nordic countries) is known for dominant themes. “If you’re watching a Korean series, then you are subscribing to the fashion, the style, and now of course the Squid Game. Spanish titles are known for crime and thrillers or passionate characters, Turkish content is social dramas, while Scandinavian countries introduced the Nordic noir,” said Kattan. “So as much as we need to get our storytelling abilities to standards that will allow it to travel globally, we also need to figure out the identity of our content that’s going to give it that travelability. What do we stand for? What are people wishing to experience when they subscribe to an hour or two of something out of the Middle East?” Saab concurred, but also brought attention to the need to nurture homegrown talent. While bringing international expertise it is imperative that we devote more space to local writers, collaborate with workshops, and encourage and pick new talent. “While we rely on external creative teams to study and understand our culture, they will lack the inner feeling, and so we have to foster talent from the region and search for ideas. There are a lot of stories from the Arab
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world waiting to be told, which will eventually give our scripts the ability to travel and in effect be monetised.” Akrouk agreed that while local talent is still in its infancy, gaining insight from international formats about the craft of storytelling and applying it to local writing rooms would promote and encourage local creativity that would grow and evolve organically. “When we were doing the first season of Arab Idol, everybody came from outside – the lighting director, the art director, the director – and then through the years we were able to educate and train people. And now in season six, everyone is from the local market.” The reality is that the majority of the talent pool in the Middle East is not experienced in all the formats, and so when you have a business objective of creating an original drama that’s going to engage audiences, “we want them to watch from the first to the last episode and wait for the next season”, said Kattan. “And so we should work towards a common objective collectively – to get Arab content to a pivoting point where it will travel. That will impact our production values and output, and only then will we have an expansion of resources to do more.”
“As much as we need to get our storytelling abilities to standards that will allow it to travel globally, we also need to figure out the identity of our content that’s going to give it that travelability” Wesam Kattan, VP Content, Genomedia In that respect, how do we create content for such a diverse audience as the MENA, where language remains the same but dialects differ, creating a deterrent in certain regions. What determines the focus? From MBC’s perspective, Akrouk said that where there was a “thirst”, “we created a stand-alone channel”. “We are in the business of attracting eyeballs, and all of us in this room need to offer the right kind of content on the right kind of platform to catch as many eyeballs and to make it as easy as possible for the user to watch your content, whether you’re engaging them on the phone or SVOD
The panel agreed that good storytelling was still key to keeping audiences engaged irrespective of the platform on which they watched it.
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platform, local channel or satellite.” Fattouh asked how social media offers new opportunities for content creation. Kebbi’s verdict: If they’re not engaged, they’re not going to subscribe. Management of social media accounts has the same value as creating premium content, and understanding audiences is key to organic growth on social media. “We need to excavate ideas from different elements, look beyond social media, consider Google search volumes, learn what people are looking for, what are they reading about, what are they interested in, to seek new ways of content creation.” Saab and Akrouk were in complete alignment on potential growth in social media platforms lowering the cost of acquisition while driving audience engagement and awareness. As the session concluded, it was clear that in the surging content landscape, as media segments capitalise on what works and what doesn’t, the story is king. Investing in the quality and strength of the story, in its emotion, originality, authenticity, relevance and character, is what will ultimately bring the audiences to entertainment platforms.
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PROSTRATEGY
SURVIVING THE NEW WORLD ORDER The popular CEO panel was back at the ASBU BroadcastPro Summit, with industry stakeholders examining the status quo and discussing their plans for 2022 and strategies to maintain a commercially viable position in a continuously evolving new world order. Vijaya Cherian sums up the discussion
STRATEGY&
IPSOS
Karim Sarkis
ZEE ENTERTAINMENT
Manoj Mathew
Elie Aoun
STARZPLAY
Maaz Sheikh
With OTT platforms dominating the media landscape and gaining more traction during the pandemic, moderator Karim Sarkis, Partner Entertainment and Media – Middle East | Strategy&, kicked off the discussion by asking if the Arab world was closer to being taken over by streamers. Participating were Elie Aoun, CEO Media MEA, Ipsos; Manoj Mathew, Executive VP & Territory Head, Zee Entertainment (MENAPT); Maaz Sheikh, co-founder and CEO of StarzPlay; and Olivier Bramly, CEO of E-Vision. While the panellists acknowledged the increasing
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E-VISION
Olivier Bramly uptake of streaming services and agreed that globally the scales are tipping in favour of OTT, they felt that the Middle East continues to have a faithful linear audience and that the status quo is unlikely to change at least for the next five to six years, with the relationship between linear and OTT more complementary than competitive. “We see streaming platforms as complementing and completing the entertainment experience. In Saudi Arabia, AVOD/SVOD penetration is around 65% – and if you add to that social media uptake, it would be around
PROSTRATEGY
95% – but linear and free-toair TV continue to enjoy a huge presence. In fact, during the pandemic, all-round watching in Saudi Arabia, whether on linear or streaming, went up by an additional hour,” Aoun commented. As someone who operates in both the linear and on-demand space, Bramly seconded Aoun’s opinion. “Etisalat has enjoyed a steady consumption on linear”, with linear and free-to-air “the main go-to source for news, sport, live or shows in this region.” Perhaps the most surprising comments came from Maaz Sheikh. “It’s hard for me to argue against linear when in the last two months, we’ve launched 20 linear channels on our OTT service,” he remarked, adding that StarzPlay had invested several millions of dollars in infrastructure and licensing to get linear channels onto his platform. One of the reasons StarzPlay took the linear route initially was to run sports content. Seeing its success, the streamer began to add more linear content. “We had the Asian qualifiers. It was one of the biggest consumption days we ever had on our platform. So, yes, linear does work and more recently we’ve added five of Star’s premium linear channels to our cricket pack. For us as a service, it has always been about experimentation and seeing what works. Football was extremely successful for us. So we tried cricket and it has been very successful with the subcontinent audience. So now we’re adding more Indian and Pakistani content. Given this scenario, I can’t argue against the linear channels.” Clarifying why StarzPlay has embraced linear on its streaming service, Sheikh explained that it all depends on the availability of rights. “I was speaking to an industry colleague here who has two or three great English-language
“The problem here is that for no reason, in my opinion, the advertising expenditures are dropping on linear TV while they’re growing on all the other digital platforms” Elie Aoun, CEO Media MEA, Ipsos linear channels where the rights are attractive but they won’t be available for SVOD. So if I want that specific content, I’ll go get the linear channel if the SVOD isn’t available. The choice to pick linear channels, therefore, could be the availability of the rights. It could be also that the production costs are spread across different platforms, but rights is the first driver.” Manoj Mathew from Zee Entertainment explained how the availability of more devices has led to increased consumption within a family.
Where in the past all five members of a family would have been watching one piece of content on a linear platform, today two would probably be watching on the linear platform while the other three may be watching on other devices. He pointed to another phenomenon evident when fans watch a game like cricket in the stadium but also watch it in parallel on Switch TV or StarzPlay because they want a close-up of the action, and added that although each country in MENA requires a different marketing strategy, Arabic is the common denominator, making it easier for a streaming platform to target the whole region. Not everyone agreed about that, given that different dialects and versions prevail in different parts of the Arab world. Sheikh commented, “It is extremely difficult in this part of the world to scale with one product that fits all. You have to go into each sub segment, because the region is very fragmented in terms of tastes. There are the different Arabic dialects to contend with. Content that works in the GCC doesn’t work in North Africa and
Olivier Bramly (far right), CEO of Evision, said that international entrants need to partner with local telcos and players if they want to see a steady increase in their subscriber numbers.
January 2022 | www.broadcastprome.com | 31
PROSTRATEGY Karim Sarkis, known to ask tough questions, has traditionally moderated the CEO panel at the ASBU BroadcastPro Summit.
vice versa. But also, within the Gulf countries you have such a large expatriate population that you can’t have a single product that appeals to everyone. “So what we’ve been doing gradually is begin to target each one of these sub segments. For example, a year and a half ago we went into Turkish content and then got it dubbed into Arabic. Then earlier this year we went into anime and now have a thousand hours of anime content. Our most recent foray has been into sports. If you want to become a dominant service in the region, you cannot have a product that you think is going to fit across the board. You have to cater to each micro segment.” Aoun agreed, pointing out that in terms of language the region has the Gulf, North Africa, Egypt and perhaps the Levant. He said that perhaps the most understood language en masse is Syrian,
which is why most of the Turkish drama series are dubbed into Syrian. This was why the likes of MBC opened local channels in countries like Egypt and Iraq – so they could connect directly with the local populace. Karim then moved the discussion to advertising, questioning the recent direction of this revenue source. Elie set the context by stating that the region used to be known for the advertising revenue in TV, until digital platforms claimed more revenue than TV from 2019 onwards, and continue to grow. “The problem here is that for no reason, in my opinion, the advertising expenditures are dropping on linear TV while they’re growing on all the other digital platforms. We are hoping that
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expenditures on linear will start to stabilise or start growing by 1-3%, like any other place in the world. But there has been a huge drop in the last three or four years. In my opinion, that is not justified at all.” As someone who recently used linear platforms to promote StarzPlay, Sheikh admitted: “Visibility is pretty much the same on linear as well. Digital seems more high-tech, but when we started advertising on Evision’s linear channels like Emasala and the Fox channels in year four and five, we realised that the audience reach was pretty similar.” He elaborated: “One of the things we did was establish a baseline of our app downloads or our traffic, and then we would correlate it with when we had the spots on the linear channels, to see what happens to our direct and organic traffic. It showed linear channels to be a very effective advertising platform for us. So
PROSTRATEGY
for us, the visibility was pretty much the same between digital and linear. I think it may be a lack of awareness or education among merchants and clients like ourselves. We need to develop our own measuring technicality to establish that causality. If you can measure the impact on your service or your growth or your revenue, then it’s worth investing into it, which is what we did.” The discussion then moved to the close relationship between telcos and streamers, with increasing signs of collaboration between regional players. Karim questioned if Etisalat really required a Switch TV service and STC Jawwy TV, when they were also simultaneously partnering with the likes of StarzPlay and perhaps cannibalising their streaming services. Bramly explained that there is no contradiction, as what the telco can do in terms of reach with its app is not something StarzPlay could potentially achieve; and Sheikh cited two instances of why the telcos are justified in having their own streaming services and how they could potentially provide more content at a scale which smaller services such as StarzPlay could not afford. For instance, for the Cricket World Cup Etisalat created a special prepaid mobile pack that included Switch TV, offering the tournament to approximately 3m customers. Likewise, Jawwy offers a lot of free Arabic content which StarzPlay can ill afford to provide. When Sarkis maintained that they were once again setting the stage for global players like Disney to come and take over the regional market as they did with linear, Bramly explained that they would need to collaborate with local players: “They need telcos and paid TV platforms to provide a significant volume of
subscribers quickly on a weekly basis.” Sheikh added that they would also be careful to protect their existing assets, because if the likes of OSN walked away from the content licensing business, the studios would lose hundreds of millions
“With multiplexes, cinemas have a much smaller number of seats but the revenue has gone up, because those consumers who are going are willing to pay for that premium experience” Manoj Mathew, Executive VP & Territory Head, Zee Entertainment (MENAPT)
of dollars. “So I think they look for these partnerships to protect their downside also.” Matthew pointed out that syndication may be a good way to ensure they are prepared to take on global players – Netflix would start syndicating its content to markets where it is not available or less watched, or the broadband penetration is not there. He said Zee was doing the same. Sheikh said that if Disney comes to the region directly, there are five or six other major studios that the regional players can work with, who don’t have plans to launch their service in this region. “We see a very solid pipeline for the next four to five years. And then on top of that, the local industry has come of age so you no longer have to just look at, say, Egypt for content production. The Gulf has picked up and Syria and Lebanon are making a comeback. The availability of local content has increased.” Perhaps one solid example of collaboration is how the local partners are bonding to secure sports rights. Bramly called it a win-win when Evision experimented with sports rights by collaborating with both StarzPlay and du: “By combining our complementary services, we managed to make a deal for this property and the result
January 2022 | www.broadcastprome.com | 33
PROSTRATEGY
was positive for all parties.” Sheikh argued that strategic collaboration has worked for everyone. “StarzPlay is already competing with the likes of beIN. Previously, cricket was with OSN and then beIN, but now it’s on our service. The Asian Football Federation used to be on beIN. Abu Dhabi acquired the rights, but they are a free-to-air broadcaster and AFC needed to be encrypted. That’s where we came in. The channels were produced by Abu Dhabi TV, but available only through StarzPlay. And then we sub-licensed that to Etisalat and du. So the coexistence and collaboration is working, and we will see more and more of that.” In closing, Karim asked for thoughts on how movies are adding to the business. Elie said that people go to cinemas for the experience, and Mathew commented that although the
“It’s hard for me to argue against linear when in the last two months, we’ve launched 20 linear channels on our OTT service” Maaz Sheikh, co-founder and CEO, StarzPlay number of people going to cinemas may have fallen with the rise of multiplexes, those who do go are willing to pay more, so ARPU has gone up. “With multiplexes, cinemas have a much smaller number of seats but the revenue has gone up, because those consumers who are going are willing to pay for that premium experience.” Sheikh remarked that StarzPlay sees a huge opportunity in bringing to
While collaboration was discussed in previous years, this year's panel included CEOs who had put that into practice to ensure a more viable commercial strategy.
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its platform movies that skip the theatrical window. He cited Infinite from Paramount as a case in point. “It did phenomenally well for us and although it was one of the most expensive movies we’ve ever purchased on our service, we got more than 100,000 unique users within the first two weeks we had it on the service, which is a very strong number for us and an indication of what our consumers are looking for.” The key takeaways from the discussion were that regional players are no longer just talking about collaboration, as in previous years, but successfully putting it into practice. Advertising revenue, though on the decline, seems to be giving way to new transactional models and the region seems to be adapting well to this. The theatrical business is gradually getting back on its feet, and seems to be going through a transition of its own.
PROINTERVIEW
THE PATH TO DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Integrating digital technologies into existing business processes while keeping culture and customer experiences in mind has become critical to adapting to changing market requirements. Nourah AlFayez, Head of Transformation at Google MENA, sheds light on how reimagining business in the digital realm can help accelerate efforts in the Media and Entertainment space
How can digital transformation help entertainment businesses in the region? Digital transformation can help an organisation’s operations in a range of ways such as digitising payroll, and in recruitment by using AI to help identify relevant candidates. Likewise, digital transformation can lead to high impact in the entertainment industry within the context of measurement, automation and ad sales. Technological advancements and changes in consumer behaviour have caused a range of changes within the entertainment industry. For example, the transition from terrestrial TV to IPTV, to OTT and streaming services has resulted in shifts in how broadcasters operate. A fundamental change is access to real-time data and signals about the content being created, whereas in the past, production houses relied on test screenings or focus groups to understand how their films or TV shows would be received. Digital transformation can also lead companies to greater efficiency through the automation of production, sales and operations activities. Leveraging the cloud, for example, allows production houses to distribute their content more efficiently to broadcast networks or OTT services. By having their content on the cloud, they can measure and monitor the full process to ensure content is delivered with the highest quality. Moreover, machine learning can be used to optimise and streamline the production process, like surfacing content ideas (what topics will drive engagement) and using cloud to segment shots with contextual cues and sentiment analysis of reviews, to understand where improvements can be made. Another area that can be digitised is the advertising space within the entertainment industry, which will pave the way for programmatic TV and lead to a more efficient ecosystem and data-powered buys. Currently, the number of manual steps involved in executing TV ad buys is exceptionally high. The
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process involves an exchange of Excel sheets between sales houses and agencies, along with many manual exercises to then analyse/reconcile the buys against actual ads aired. If all of this can be done at one click via programmatic buying tools, the amount of time saved would be astounding. If we couple this with the ability to establish a unified measurement system on TV set-top boxes, we could then add audience targeting to make ads much more relevant. For production houses and film businesses looking to transform digitally, what do leaders need to consider? Deciding to implement a digital transformation programme in any organisation requires leaders to first consider their strategic vision for the next five to ten years, and think of their people and their culture, before evaluating which tech tools and programmes to adopt. The leadership teams must be open to changes coming their way. To do this, they need to invest in talented people who are equipped with analytical and problem-solving skills and have the curiosity to innovate and create solutions using new technologies, and drive digital transformation. Leaders must encourage teams to have a growth mindset; they also need to establish the right culture for their teams where they can embrace experiments and learn from failures. As a next step, the leadership team needs to understand all the operations and processes within their organisation to identify the areas where digital transformation will have the biggest impact, and assign a leader for each project. How can digital transformation help production teams and entertainment professionals provide better opportunities in terms of talent and culture? When businesses embrace transformation and implement innovative solutions, they create a cultural shift in their organisation that appeals to talented and creative minds,
PROINTERVIEW
especially the younger people who are digital natives and more data-driven in their decisions. What do you think about the need for online privacy due to streaming and e-commerce in the region? Protecting people’s personal data doesn’t have to be at odds with business growth. Google introduced the Privacy Sandbox initiative, which aims to create web technologies that both protect people’s privacy online and give companies and developers the tools to build thriving digital businesses to keep the web open and accessible to everyone. This will not only promote business growth for companies but could also increase competition in the sector overall, by making it a healthier place to advertise and grow while still meeting consumers’ expectations. Today, Chrome and others have offered more than 30 proposals, and four of those proposals are available in origin trials. What is quickly changing in terms of online consumer behaviour? The need for immediate satisfaction – Consumers now expect to get or find what they want immediately, as people’s attention spans continue to shorten. This is why shorter content is becoming more popular, especially when it comes to entertainment, from YouTube Shorts to TikTok and Instagram Reels. The lack of patience also leads to cross-screen viewing as boredom drives people to check social media, for example, while watching TV or other platforms. Bringing these together seamlessly is an important aspect to consider, like being able to reach someone on their phone based on what they are consuming on TV. Likewise, from an e-commerce perspective we continue to witness providers offering same-day delivery options. We also expect to see more integration between e-commerce and media, where you can purchase products you see via the content you
Noura AlFayez says the leadership team must fully understand the processes within their organisation to identify areas where digital transformation will have maximum impact.
“With the huge acceleration of streaming and online content, privacy and safety are vital. Protecting people’s personal data doesn’t have to be at odds with business growth” Nourah AlFayez, Head of Transformation, Google MENA are consuming, all within one platform. Shifting from ‘the best’ to ‘the best for me’ – We saw an increase in searches for ‘the best’ among users, where they’ve previously prioritised looking for ‘the cheapest’ products. As people are looking to find products that answer their specific needs, they will start expecting better customisation to their needs and wants. The recent trend of “choose your ending” films, for example, is reflecting this same interest. Consumers want to have a say, and they want products to meet their likes and dislikes more closely. Conscientious consumption – Consumers are now more vocal about their own values, and they will resist buying from a brand that goes against their values, whether related to wellbeing, discrimination and eco-friendliness, among others. How can regional entertainment providers leverage first-party
data to adapt to changes in consumer behaviour? Entertainment providers that cover multiple geographies will have to factor in the different privacy regulations applied to each country and determine the best way to abide by them all. This increases the importance of first-party data and being able to surface insights from them. In our region, people meters are still nascent, which means we don’t yet have a unified view across all broadcasters to understand the viewership patterns. But those with OTT offerings or online streaming services can access immediate data about their consumers’ watch trends, which allows them to be agile and to respond quickly to changing consumer behaviours and preferences. Do you think we are headed to an era with a need for creative people who can adapt to being digital natives? We’ve been living in this era for some time. Unfortunately, many creative agencies have not yet adapted, and this has created a sizeable gap for this expertise in the MENA market. We rarely see tech and data being considered in the ideation process at many creative agencies, which means they miss out on developing concepts that are innovative, powered by technology and can be measured effectively. As the head of digital transformation, what is the most essential strategy when going digital? Never lose sight of the problem you are trying to solve. Adopting technology for the sake of it is pointless; digital transformation is a way to achieve your goals in a more effective way. Also, keep in mind that there is no end point to digital transformation, so you should always have your finger on the pulse of your industry and tech developments, to identify the best opportunities for your business.
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PROTECH
UNLOCKING THE 5G OPPORTUNITY IN VIDEO SERVICES
With 5G presenting broadcasters with the opportunity to expand their video services and offer higher-quality video streaming and immersive AV experiences, Alexandre Arnodin examines the wide range of applications that can benefit from using this technology
Mobile connectivity continues to evolve at a rapid pace. A little over a decade since the introduction of 4G, 5G is now showing promise as its uptake expands. It brings the potential of increased bandwidth throughput and lower latency, allowing telecom operators, broadcasters and content providers to expand video services, improve viewer experience and diversify product offerings. While higherquality video streaming and immersive audio are an exciting prospect, understanding the wide range of potential future applications will be crucial to leveraging the opportunities. Built on better bandwidth The increased bandwidth capability of this new technology is key to understanding the foundation of what 5G can provide to both mobile operators and broadcasters. With one gigabit per second streaming made possible, organisations are better able
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to provide 4K streams on top of existing HD streams and even pave the way for 8K resolution, creating an enhanced viewer experience. For audio, new innovations such as MPEG-H and AC4 with Dolby Atmos rendering capabilities become possible, meaning support for multiple simultaneous channels and spatial sound effect rendering, even on stereo sound systems. The edge opportunity 5G also enables multi-access edge computing (MEC), and this is where the possibilities really expand for video services. Storage and processing capabilities can be pushed further down the network and used in smaller data centres or other infrastructure, spread out closer to the viewers. For example, MEC enables user-specific content to be inserted just before it reaches viewers, making it possible to distribute different content to different users. One
PROTECH
reality (AR) have so far been underused in the industry, with limited end-user uptake of existing VR technology and the real-time processing capabilities needed for AR. 5G could be transformative in bringing about widespread adoption of this technology, as the subsequent increase in video quality is likely to encourage a greater number of users to invest in headsets. In the context of AR, imagine that the localised infrastructure in an edge set-up is in a sports stadium, for example. With the high bandwidth and low latency brought about by 5G, sports fans will be able to use their mobile devices to directly view different live camera angles, with AR capabilities allowing real-time player statistics such as passes completed or goals scored in a soccer match. This will serve to enhance the live experience for fans attending events. And with lower latency, whether you are in the stadium or watching the event from your home, it also opens up possibilities for a much richer user experience, linking the content you watch with social media, retail and your community, and providing the interactivity and responsiveness that viewers are used to in these other platforms.
obvious application of this is dynamic ad insertion (DAI), where advertisements are targeted to specific viewers, enhancing their value to advertisers and increasing monetisation opportunities. Beyond that, and using the same technology, personalised channels can be tailored to specific viewers’ tastes, increasing their value and making them more viable as a premium service. Making future technology a present reality Virtual reality (VR) and augmented
Elastic CDN, open caching and public cloud The possibilities brought by 5G and the edge fit in nicely with the opportunities enabled by an elastic content delivery network (CDN), which can expand and shrink as required to meet fluctuating demands. This helps to maintain a highquality viewing experience even during peak traffic, by quickly adding extra cache nodes to meet the temporary demand and then removing them instantly once that demand is over. This greater flexibility eliminates the need for building overcapacity, helping to achieve cost and energy savings. Based on a distributed, cloud-native architecture, an elastic CDN also enables orchestration of various functions to use CDN infrastructure for other tasks at off-peak times – for example,
for file transcoding of ads or VOD content, to create a library of assets for delivering personalized video experiences. Combining elastic CDN principles with open caching will enable telecom operators to lease their CDN to content providers or broadcasters, resulting in greatly improved quality of experience for video services as the content is cached closer to the viewers. Public clouds are also pushing their virtualisation environments in the 5G network, taking advantage of the MEC infrastructure. Telecom operators and content providers can benefit from this by using the same software technologies in the cloud and in the 5G network, making it easier to handle global operations and deploy new services quickly. Future potential The benefits of 5G are as much about the technologies it will help to support as the advantages it will bring to the user experience. While it provides promise to the broadcast industry, whether it is used to its full potential will depend on the relationship between broadcasters and telecom operators moving forward, as it’s not yet clear whether a shared broadcast infrastructure can be put in place. As a result, it’s likely that the broadcasters and wider industry will be keeping a close eye on the 5G landscape in the coming months.
Alexandre Arnodin is VP of Video Delivery Solutions at ATEME.
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PROGUEST
“Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of online users, leading to a huge demand for connectivity”
Dynamic spectrum management for Saudi Arabia’s wireless future As of January 2021, there were over 33m internet users in Saudi Arabia, an increase of over 1 million users since the previous year. With internet penetration at 95.7%, Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of online users, leading to a huge demand for connectivity and capacity from wireless services. The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) is continually taking action to ensure rising traffic demands continue to be met. A spectrum strategy that works for all CITC’s National Spectrum Strategy for Saudi Arabia aims to efficiently and effectively optimise spectrum usage by different industry sectors and use cases in the country. Its multiyear strategic strategy and outlook will govern spectrum policy until 2025 and is a comprehensive plan to unlock the potential of spectrum for both established and emerging technologies. It will do this by implementing proposals for spectrum sharing and licence-exempt use as well as lightly and fully licensed spectrum. CITC hopes that this will enable innovative and more commercially established spectrum uses to coexist and drive economic growth. The consultative process took feedback and advice from academia, the national government, mobile operators, wireless technology providers and esteemed international organisations like the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance
to consider a range of perspectives and forward-looking analyses of evolving spectrum needs and trends. Developing a plan for spectrum sharing The spectrum outlook is a core part of Saudi Arabia’s roadmap to become a world leader in radiocommunications by releasing spectrum to support soaring data consumption while supporting emerging and future wireless technologies. It has three core principles: transparency, predictability and the adoption of an evidence-based data-driven spectrum policy. CITC has allocated and improved access to more than 23GHz of newly available spectrum for a wide range of uses in the Kingdom. This will be allocated as follows: • Licensed spectrum 4GHz • Licence-exempt spectrum 6.2GHz • Lightly licensed spectrum 13GHz Licence-exempt usage Licence-exempt usage enables and drives the sharing of spectrum among different users and technology. In 2021, CITC made the entire 6GHz band available for unlicensed use, as well as spectrum across the 66-71GHz bands. In addition, consultations are currently in place regarding the 5.9GHz band, as CITC recognises the value and urgent need for more unlicensed spectrum that can enable even more innovative use cases and meet surging demand from existing use cases. CITC is of the firm belief that smart technologies which can coexist in the band will enable sustainable growth for different wireless
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technologies. This belief is reflected within the Spectrum Outlook by making more than 900MHz of mid-band spectrum available for IMT and 5G technology. Lightly and fully licensed spectrum Lightly and fully licensed spectrum complements the allocation of licenceexempt spectrum, as it helps incumbent users cater to increased demand by providing services at a given quality of service without the risk of interference. CITC will continue to auction licensed (exclusive) spectrum for industries such as mobile services, to ensure providers can access sufficient spectrum and accelerate Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation. By allowing the efficient use of spectrum and enabling different wireless technologies, this will drive growth and accelerate the digitisation of important vertical sectors while benefiting the wider economy. The future of connectivity in Saudi Arabia The scale and speed of technological change in the wireless sector requires an equally dynamic and forward-looking response from national spectrum managers and policy makers. CITC is acutely aware of its responsibility in this regard and has put in place a vision and a set of processes to efficiently manage spectrum as a scarce resource, to effectively enable innovation and growth now and into the future. Majed Alkahtani is Senior Spectrum Expert and General Manager for Radio Spectrum Services, Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), Saudi Arabia.
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