ISSUE 132 | JULY-AUGUST 2021
Licensed by Dubai Development Authority
BRACING FOR A PARADIGM SHIFT With media houses moving to cloud, IP and data-based business models, experts discuss strategies at the BroadcastPro Tech Summit
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PROINTRO
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Just when we were getting to the point when we had invited many of the regional speakers to the table and wanted some new hands on deck, the virtual conference phenomenon took off. And yes, although I agree some of you may have attended too many of them and are perhaps experiencing some form of fatigue, I have had the opportunity to explore a whole new world of speakers and bring them to our regional audiences in ways in which we couldn’t before. With no flights, hotels and visas to be worried about, virtual conferences have helped us focus on the topic at hand and given us a beautiful opportunity to cast our net wide and invite experts from across the world to share their experiences with our audiences. This is especially true for topics related to OTT services, where global players have been ahead of the curve. Listening to their journeys is likely to inspire us in new ways. Virtual conferences have also given international audiences on the supplier and vendor side the chance to hear about the challenges unique to this region,
and I can tell you that some of them are already doing something about it. BroadcastPro has seized every opportunity that has come its way, and the digital world has helped us bring a raft of new speakers to our virtual conferences, with fresh perspectives and new ideas. Keeping that in mind, watch out for the second edition of our virtual MENA OTT conference, scheduled for September 21-22. This, of course, does not take anything away from physical events, which have a charm of their own. On November 16, BroadcastPro ME will host its Summit and Awards at the Westin Mena Seyahi. If you have done something exceptional and innovative, I urge you to take a look at the BroadcastPro Awards website, which is up and running. In the meantime, this issue sums up some of the panel discussions we had at the last virtual BroadcastPro tech summit. Happy reading!
Vijaya Cherian, Editorial Director
Sadiq Siddiqui FOUNDER Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015) Published by
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ISSUE 132 | JULY-AUGUST 2021
Licensed by Dubai Development Authority
BRACING FOR A PARADIGM SHIFT With media houses moving to cloud, IP and data-based business models, experts discuss strategies at the BroadcastPro Tech Summit
On this month's cover…
Let’s create a vibrant online broadcast community!
The panelists from the BroadcastPro Tech Summit
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Us Contact
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PROCONTENTS
Inside this issue 05 NEWS Ninetnine launches 10 linear Arabic channels on Sling TV; Arab Telemedia and OD Media sign deal; IP Studios manages production for UAE's Social Knockout; Bahrain TV deploys Lawo in OB vans; Indian media group targets UAE investors to raise $67m; WarnerMedia hires new Exec. Director of Turkish Content Acquisitions; and more
16 COVER – BRACING FOR
A NEW TECH SCENARIO IN ENTERTAINMENT Through a mix of presentations, panel discussions and interviews, 23 industry professionals shared their experiences on the cloud, IP, remote productions, and where the future of the industry lies at the virtual BroadcastPro Tech Summit
28 GVX MIDDLE EAST
TECH SUMMIT WRAP-UP Grass Valley brought together MENA experts to its inaugural Middle East tech summit, to better understand regional trends and see how it could address local challenges
July-August 2021 RED SEA FEST OFFERS $14M IN FUNDING
06
NIGERIAN FM STATION CHOOSES LAWO
14
BROADCASTPRO CONFERENCE SPOTLIGHTS NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND BUSINESS MODELS
16 INDUSTRY EXPERTS SHARE INSIGHTS AT GVX MIDDLE EAST TECH SUMMIT IN DUBAI
34 RINGING IN A NEW
WAVE OF PODCASTS Basel Anabtawi on the launch of a new wave of podcasts with the Rising Giants Network
28
40 OSN UNVEILS SECRET
A RISING WAVE OF NEW PODCASTS
TO NEW STREAMING APP When time, resources and money were short, OSN's tech team came up with a creative tech tool called CBX to build an agile streaming platform
44 GUEST COLUMN Ryan Burr on how home studios are a viable approach to MENA broadcast
34
OSN REVEALS STREAMING APP SECRET
40 July-August 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 3
PRONEWS
Ninetnine launches 10 premium linear Arabic channels on Sling TV in the US Ninetnine, a content provider to cable and OTT platforms, has launched 10 premium linear North African channels in the US on Dish Network’s OTT service, Sling TV. The channels, which will be available free to households across the US as part of an AVOD business model, include Nessma TV, Samira TV, Lina TV, 2M Monde and Al Aoula. This is Ninetnine’s first step into the US content distribution market. Ninetnine co-founders Samir Zehani and Adel Hamla said: “We know exactly what North Africans living abroad want to watch. We’ve already generated pay-TV revenues for some of these TV channels in France via our pay-TV service Le Bouquet Maghreb. The focus now is
With US AVOD revenues predicted to triple between 2020 and 2026 to $31bn, Dish TV hopes to enjoy a bigger share in the US market with its content strategy.
conquering new territories. Sling TV was the best fit for our requirements, and we are excited for the launch.” Tarak Ben Ammar, an international film producer and investor in Nessma TV, added: “Our partnership with Ninetnine has been paramount in our
international expansion. Their expertise in taking our content to new audiences is valuable, and now we are glad to explore the opportunities of AVOD with one of the best platforms in the US.” Ninetnine and Dish Network decided to launch the channels free-to-air
Hariharan takes over from Anurag Agrawal as MD of Canon Middle East
Hariharan has been working with Canon ME for the last 15 years.
Venkatasubramanian (Subbu) Hariharan took over as Managing Director of Canon Middle East and Turkey (CMET) last month
from Anurag Agrawal, who has retired and moved back to Canada. In his new role, Hariharan will oversee the immediate post-pandemic transition, business recovery plans and Canon Turkey integration, as well as focus on longterm goals of geographical expansion into key markets, driving the customer and people-focused agenda, product diversification and strengthened digital transformation.
based on the uptake of AVOD services across the US over the past year. A recent Global AVOD Forecasts 2021 report stated that the US has the most developed OTT sector in the world and the most developed advertising market. It also said: “US AVOD revenues will triple between 2020 and 2026 to $31bn. Rather than lose market share as other countries catch up, the US will grow its share of the global total from 37% in 2020 to 47% by 2026.” To meet the demands of this audience, Dish Networks, which launched the Sling TV service in 2015, has recently launched a new beta app which includes a powerful personalisation engine to make content discovery more intuitive and engaging.
BeIN Sports secures several MENA broadcast rights deals BeIN has signed a new agreement with Bundesliga Worldwide, extending its broadcast rights to Bundesliga matches in France, held since 2012, up to 2025. The two parties have also signed a new deal that gives it rights to broadcast the games in Turkey. The exclusive agreements grant beIN rights to all Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga matches in the two countries. In other news,
BeIN Sports secured exclusive broadcast rights to this year’s Concacaf Gold Cup 2021 in 24 countries. The matches were aired in France, Turkey, MENA and APAC (excluding Australia and Indonesia). It also broadcast the 2021 Wimbledon Championship live and exclusively across MENA on dedicated channels in three languages – English, Arabic and French.
July-August 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 5
PRONEWS
KSA's Ithra Film Productions teams up with Mohamed Hefzy for two films Ithra, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, has announced two new film productions at Cannes Film Festival. They follow the successful international release of Ithra’s first commissioned film Joud, described as “an unconventional meditation on the cycle of life” and an “ancient poem for modern times”.
Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy is joining hands with Ithra on Sea of Sands (working title), a coming-of-age story centred around a young orphan Bedouin and a camel who form a special bond and embark on a journey across Saudi Arabia. Hefzy has written, produced and coproduced nearly 40 feature films in Egypt, the US, the
UK and the Arab world. Ithra is also producing Saudi filmmaker Khalid Fahad’s Valley Road. The film follows the odyssey of Ali, an autistic young man who gets lost on the way to see a doctor in a nearby village. Ali finds himself alone in the middle of nowhere, where a series of obstacles and challenges cannot stop him from discovering
Red Sea Film Festival announces availability of $14m in funding for projects by Arab and Saudi filmmakers
This funding will help the festival support 100 projects from the Arab world.
The Red Sea International Film Festival, which previously announced a $10m fund for projects, recently received an additional $4m from the Saudi Film Commission to support the development of 40 new films from Saudi and Arab filmmakers. With this fund, the department can now help produce 100 feature films and short projects
as well as episodics with directors from the Arab world and Africa. The fund, currently open for submissions, will also help restore up to 10 classic Arab films. This support is in addition to funding awarded to Saudi and Arab filmmakers through the Red Sea Lodge, which has had a hugely positive impact in supporting diverse projects, awarding
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production grants of $500,000 to Sharshaf by Hind Alfahhad and Bullets & Bread by Mohammed Hammad. The fund is part of the Red Sea Film Festival Foundation’s commitment to the regional screen sector, which also includes the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival that will take place from December 6-15, 2021, including its marketplace, the Red Sea Souk, from December 8-11. The festival also recently appointed Mohammed Al-Turki as Chairman of the Festival Committee. Al-Turki is a renowned producer from the Kingdom with a career spanning over 10 years in both Hollywood and the Arab world.
the world ahead of him. The films are part of Ithra’s commitment to nurture and develop talent across the Kingdom’s creative industries. Both movies, produced under the Ithra Film Productions banner, are scheduled for release in 2023. Ithra said the cast and crew for both would consist of aspiring Saudi talent, which would nurture a generation of film creatives.
YouTube Shorts launches in the UAE YouTube has launched the beta version in the UAE of YouTube Shorts, its new short-form video experience to create short, catchy videos from mobile phones. First announced in September 2020, YouTube has since expanded Shorts to 26 countries and it will now be available across more than 100 countries, including in MENA.
DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor Introducing a new generation of fast editing by combining the cut page with a custom edit keyboard. DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor is designed in conjunction with the cut page to make editing dramatically faster. You get physical controls that make the experience faster than software only editing. The machined metal search dial with soft rubber coating allows accurate search and positioning of the timeline. Plus trim keys allow the search dial to be used for live trimming, which is faster and more accurate!
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The sync bin lets you do multi-cam editing by searching through all your media and showing you any matching clips to use as cutaways. It makes multi-cam editing fast! You can select cameras simply by pressing the number on the keyboard. Or you can hold down the camera number while spinning the search dial to paint the cutaway into the timeline directly! It’s so fast!
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Cut page editing functions are intelligent and take advantage of the speed of a keyboard. They use the ‘smart indicator’ in the timeline to work out where to insert, so you don’t always need to place in or out points to do an edit! Each time you edit, the cut page saves time by staying in the source tape. It’s much faster as you can keep browsing, throwing clips into the timeline!
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PRONEWS
Arab Telemedia and OD Media sign content distribution deal Jordanian firm Arab Telemedia and Dutch content services company ODMedia, which recently opened an office in Dubai with Fatme Kayed helming the operation, have signed an aggregation and distribution deal. Under the agreement, viewers will have access to exclusive movie titles from Arab Telemedia. As a result, viewers in 150 countries will be able to preview Arab Telemedia’s 75 neverbefore-seen movies on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon. In addition to offering the full range of technical delivery services, ODMedia acts as an aggregator for the major platforms, providing digital rights management, monetisation, target audience development and cross-promotion.
Spacetoon achieves over 2bn YouTube views and 6m subscribers Spacetoon has announced reaching 6m subscribers and over 2bn views on its YouTube channel, and claims to be the first Arabic animation TV channel to hit this number. The Spacetoon YouTube channel recorded 1m subscribers, 4.5bn impressions, over 400m views and 26.8m hours of watching in Q1 and Q2 of 2021. The company revealed that part of this increase came as a result of new original animation The Moshaya Family Animation, which has contributed to boosting overall views on the YouTube channel since the show premiered in January.
Yas Creative Hub to launch in Abu Dhabi in November 2021 Twofour54 Abu Dhabi has announced that Yas Creative Hub, the home for Abu Dhabi’s media, gaming and entertainment sector, is set to open its doors in November with a diverse group of global companies, SMEs and freelance professionals. The 270,000sqm project is expected to create jobs for up to 16,000 professionals by the end of 2031, tripling the number of people employed in the sectors in the capital. The hub will become the
8 | www.broadcastprome.com | July-August 2021
new home of twofour54 Abu Dhabi. Facilities will include five towers, the Arab Film Studio, a 26,000sqm external amphitheatre and 26,000sqm of rooftop space. The campus will double the amount of studio space available in the emirate. There will be a 6,500sqm studio and production space at the hub that will help to double the number of international and local productions Abu Dhabi can host each year. The site will be the size of 40 football pitches when completed.
Yas Creative Hub will be the new home of twofour54 Abu Dhabi.
Jordan in AV co-production agreement with Belgium The Embassy of Belgium in Jordan and the Government of Flanders in Belgium have signed a fiveyear audiovisual coproduction agreement with the support of the Royal Film Commission in Jordan (RFC). The agreement aims to establish a framework between the two countries in the AV sector, and specifically for co-productions. The signing took place at RFC’s premises in Jordan. The nineteen articles of this agreement detail the conditions for obtaining an AV co-production status including the eligibility of beneficiaries, the rights of co-producers, the conditions for participating in international film festivals, co-productions with third parties, facilitating the entry and residence of the related creative and technical personnel in the two countries, facilitating the import and reexport of equipment for the production and distribution of works that fall within this agreement, and crediting the Jordanian and Belgian governments in the credit titles of the co-produced works.
PRONEWS
IP Studios manages production and broadcast for UAE's Social Knockout Abu Dhabi-based IP Studios recently completed the broadcast production and management services for the UAE’s first-ever influencer combat event, Social Knockout, on July 30 at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai. IP Studios was awarded the contract by UAE MMA pioneer Tam Khan, who is also the founder of TK Fight Nights, TK MMA and Fitness Dubai. Social Knockout featured young Dubai businessman and influencer Rashed Saif Belhasa, aka Money Kicks, who has millions of followers on social media, alongside international YouTube star Anas Elshayib, who boasts 2.7m subscribers on the platform. “This was the first event of its kind involving social influencers and celebrities,” Mohamad Yehya,
CEO and founder of IP Studios, told BroadcastPro ME. “Rashed Saif Belhasa and Anas Elshayib made their Middle
DKL Studio shoots three films in parallel for Saudi market
Fadi Ismail.
Dubai-based DKL Studio is currently producing three films, Fadi Ismail, owner of the company and producer, told BroadcastPro ME. Two are being shot in Egypt, and a third in Abu Dhabi. All three target Saudi viewers and are scheduled for a summer release. “While all three are Saudi-centric films, they
are not being produced in KSA primarily because of difficulty in travelling to and from the country. Besides this, there were quality and cost considerations,” clarified Ismail. “All the lead cast, however, are Saudi nationals and we have a mix of celebrities and newcomers in the three films. We have attempted horror with one film, while the other is a romantic comedy and the third is a social drama.” Ismail has signed deals for the theatrical release of two of the films and the post-theatrical release of the third.
East boxing debut at the event.” At least 10 exhibition fights featured on the night. Rappers Fat Joe and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie as well as Indian music sensation Guru Randhawa performed at the event. “More than 30 crew members between camera operators, sound engineers, directors and technicians helped cover the event. IP Studios deployed an OB van fully loaded with various kit, including EVS video mixers, HD cameras, remote cameras and 2-XT4 EVS systems. We had cameras distributed all around the arena to cover the action inside the ring, the walkouts, as well as wide shots. The production team also used a Steadicam and a Jimmy Jib arm, which plays a critical role in fight coverage,” added Yehya.
OSN collaborates with PUBG MOBILE
PUBG MOBILE players will have access to OSN Streaming App content as part of this deal.
OSN and PUBG MOBILE, a multi-player video game, are exploring synergies in a first-of-its-kind partnership in the MENA region. The deal will see PUBG MOBILE players secure exclusive opportunities to access OSN streaming app premium entertainment and original content. Zahra Zayat, Senior VP, OTT Digital & Telco, OSN, said: “This first step into the gaming territory with PUBG MOBILE is a landmark
milestone for OSN’s growth ambition in the entertainment industry, consolidating content, gaming and others. The MENA region is home to a highly engaged gaming audience, with gaming unlocking exponential growth, fifty times the OTT potential. We are confident that the synergy exists between entertainment and gaming, especially with content, movies and series based on popular games and vice versa.”
July-August 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 9
PRONEWS
StarzPlay establishes HQ in Abu Dhabi StarzPlay has partnered with Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) to establish the company’s HQ in the UAE capital. Building on existing cooperation with Abu Dhabi Media, twofour54 and Image Nation Abu Dhabi, StarzPlay will partner with local production houses and animation studios to produce original content. As part of the partnership, StarzPlay will build a nextgeneration private cloud in Abu Dhabi to meet the growing consumer demand in the region. It will also offer its private cloud to other media companies
Maaz Sheikh, CEO and co-founder of StarzPlay.
Dr Tariq Bin Hendi, DG of Abu Dhabi Investment Office.
as a fully managed and turnkey OTT solution. Maaz Sheikh, CEO and co-founder of StarzPlay, said: “Building the new
cloud facility will bring us closer to our fans to serve them with a richer and more personalised experience. These are pivotal steps in
our evolution as a regional tech and media champion and we are grateful to ADIO for supporting our strategic growth vision.” As part of the Innovation Programme partnership, ADIO has awarded StarzPlay competitive financial incentives, including rebates on high-skilled payroll, technologyrelated capital expenditure and other operating expenditure, as well as non-financial incentives, such as assistance with company establishment and engagement with Abu Dhabi ecosystem partners.
Bahrain TV deploys Lawo solutions in newly built outside broadcast vans Bahrain TV has added two new medium-sized OB vans to its fleet, with two Lawo IP-based mc² audio production consoles in the audio control rooms and a VSM Broadcast Control System architecture for the overall control in both OBs. They are part of the framework governing the modernisation process of the direct TV broadcasting system. Dubai systems integrator Broadcast & Studio Solutions (BSS) was responsible for this project. BBS equipped the OB vans with high-definition TV broadcasting technologies, following stringent international specifications, security and safety standards to ensure the vans were well kitted out to cover all official events, exhibitions, conferences,
and local and international sporting events. The new OB vans are controlled by Lawo’s VSM Broadcast Control and Workflow Solution, in combination with VSM servers in a redundant set-up at the heart of the control system. vsmSTUDIO software handles all administration
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and configuration tasks, while control interfaces in the form of a wide range of hardware LCD button panels and software panel clients allow simplified operation from flexible and custom-designed configurable GUIs. Additional VSM hardware includes GPIO interfaces, UMDs for dynamic labelling
The new OB vans are controlled by Lawo’s VSM Broadcast Control and Workflow solution.
and SmartHubs, which convert control signals from serial to TCP/IP and vice versa. SNMP monitoring capabilities are provided by the vSNMP editor software tool, which runs on a separate server. The audio infrastructure integrates a 48-fader Lawo mc²56 audio production console with 384 DSP channels, a routing capacity of 5120×5120 mono channels, and local I/Os directly available at the audio desk. An additional mc² Compact I/O system provides remote I/Os for high-profile productions. The smaller OB van carries a compact but powerful 24-fader mc²36, again with a multitude of remote and local I/Os controlled by 192 DSP channels via a 512×512 matrix.
PRONEWS
For-A enables distance learning for UAE Ministry of Education The UAE Ministry of Education used For-A's HVS1200 video switcher to drive a virtual studio system for distance learning programmes during the Covid-19 pandemic. The system was supplied by United Broadcast. The system was installed last year at the new MoE HQ in Ajman, with most of the crew training completed during the lockdown period. The virtual studio set-up is built around a Brainstorm InfinitySet Lite, with three Panasonic 4K PTZ cameras controlled from the HVS-1200 switcher. The system was
designed to be operated by a single operator. It is used to produce up to five hours of live video instruction daily and can support 4K or HD production. Rayan Nasser, Sales Manager for United Broadcast, said: “The aim with this project was to ensure that even non-technical operators could confidently use this system. The customer can work directly with HD and 4K requirements whenever they want without any complications or cabling issues. For-A’s switcher delivers excellent virtual studio imagery and positions
the MoE for a 4K future.” Mohammed Abu Ziyadeh, System Engineering Manager at For-A, added: “After all the schools closed because of the Covid-19 lockdown, the MoE turned to distance learning. With so much content to produce, they needed a system that was easy to use but could present engaging content for students across the country. United Broadcast delivered a solution that combines the flexibility of virtual set technology with the reliability of our HVS-1200 switcher.” The HVS-1200 features 10 inputs and outputs in 4K
mode, including two outputs for HDMI 2.0. Mixed inputs of 12G-SDI and quad-link 3G-SDI are supported. MELite technology extends the switcher’s 2 M/Es to 6 M/E performance, while FLEXaKEY technology transforms a traditional AUX bus into functional mix effects with cuts, mix, wipes, keys and DVE including full preview. The switcher also includes two multi-viewer outputs, each supporting up to a 16-split display, one colour corrector and one still/clip store in 4K, and a built-in web server for set-up on a PC or tablet.
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July-August 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 11
PRONEWS
Indian media group targets UAE investors to raise $67m Indian firm NV Capital, a credit fund focused on the media and entertainment sector, plans to organise virtual roadshows to tap investors across the UAE to raise AED 246m ($67m). Founded by former corporate bankers Nitin Menon and Vivek Menon, the fund will invest in content creators, OTT platforms, gaming and entertainment startups, NV Capital said in a statement. The fund recently received a nod from SEBI as a Category II Alternative Investment Fund. Given the active involvement of the Indian diaspora investing across various equity and debt instruments in India, as well as exploring new alternative asset classes, NV Capital is looking to raise funds from high-networth individuals (HNIs), NRI investors, family offices
and financial institutions based in the UAE. Vivek Menon, co-founder and Managing Partner, NV Capital, said: “Given the rise of the UAE as a preferred destination for global FPIs, it is eminent for the country to become the gateway of new-age sectoral funding to countries like India. At the same time, owing to cultural similarities, a large expat population of Indian origin and sustained tie-ups with the Indian media and entertainment industry, the UAE remains a key market for garnering funds for our pioneering offering.” The value of the content market has been growing exponentially in recent years, with close to 1,500 movies being released each year. Combined with the rapid rise of multiple OTT monetisation platforms which has showcased 180+
web series and 80+ direct-toOTT film launches in Hindi alone since last year, the value of content has been growing exponentially, the company said. This trend highlights the scope and opportunity in entertainment financing, where content creators are in constant dearth of capital to scale up. In addition, the digital media and gaming subsegments are also growing, with online gaming alone expected to grow at a CAGR of over 25%. NV Capital is set to leverage the absence of institutional credit in the sector and provide financing for these sunrise verticals. The key sponsor of NV Capital is Jayantilal Gada, Chairman and Managing Director of Pen Studios, an industry veteran with over 35 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry.
WarnerMedia's new Executive Director of Turkish Content Acquisitions Mia Edde to be based in Dubai WarnerMedia has appointed Mia Edde to the newly created role of Executive Director of Turkish Content Acquisitions. Based in Dubai, Edde will report to Hannes Heyelmann, EVP and Head of Programming, EMEA and Tomas Yankelevich, EVP, Chief Content Officer, Latin America. Edde joins the company on 1st August. In her new role Edde will be responsible for leading
Mia Edde.
acquisitions of local language programming in Turkey for HBO Max in EMEA and Latin America. She will also work
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closely with the acquisitions and programming teams led by Ragnhild Thorbech, Head of Programming and Acquisitions, EMEA and Andres Mendoza, Head of Acquisitions and Negotiations, Latin America. Additionally, Edde will work with Antony Root, EVP and Head of Original Production, EMEA on the commissioning and production of original Turkish language content.
Singapore’s VMC to form new UAE entity, expand Arab media content reach Singaporean media investment holding company Vistas Media Capital (VMC) has set up Vistas Media FZ-LLC in twofour54 for content and entertainment events production services in the region, and plans to move to Yas Creative Hub after it opens later this year. The content production services arm of Vistas Media FZ-LLC will provide and facilitate prefilming, production and post-production services for Arabic, Indian and Hollywood films in Abu Dhabi. It will launch the first Abu Dhabi Media Fest in November 2021 – a nineday event which will include a film festival showcasing films from the South Asian and MENA region selected by an international jury; a film market bringing together filmmakers, investors and content buyers; master classes and workshops across filmmaking, acting, production, animation and visual effects; and a gala closing ceremony with a film awards night. Vistas Media FZLLC will be headed by VMC co-founder Piiyush Singh.
PRONEWS
US VC invests in Abu Dhabi firm Majarra Global digital media investor North Base Media (NBM) has announced its investment in Abu Dhabi firm Majarra, a technology company that provides Arabic content online. Abdulsalam Haykal, Majarra Executive Chairman, said: “We’re delighted to have a high-quality and specialised investor like
North Base Media as a believer in our vision for a new business model that addresses the massive inefficiency of Arabic online content. NBM’s global perspective and unique insight into the industry strengthens our commitment to deliver the best content and user experience for the Arabic-speaking internet
Carlyle to acquire LiveU to further accelerate global growth
Global investment firm Carlyle has acquired LiveU from Francisco Partners, a global investment firm that specialises in partnering with technology businesses. Details of the transaction have not been disclosed. Carlyle will use its experience in the media tech sector to support LiveU’s growth ambitions, represented by existing investments in Disguise and NEP alongside prior investments including The Foundry, Vubiquity, BTI Studios and The Mill. It will further consolidate LiveU’s market position through
M&A activity and organic growth, while capitalising on the rapidly growing demand for high-quality live video transmission. It hopes to leverage its extensive global network to further expand LiveU’s customer base and help to develop relationships with some of the world’s leading content providers. Equity for the investment will be provided by Carlyle Europe Technology Partners IV, a fund that invests in middlemarket technologyfocused opportunities in Europe and the US.
users in the region and around the world.” Majarra, formerly Haykal Media, announced a plan earlier this year to offer a single-subscription sign-on to a network of reliable, high-quality online content platforms in Arabic. The network so far includes Harvard Business Review Arabia, MIT Technology
Review Arabia, Stanford Social Innovation Review Arabia, Popular Science, Fortune and Manhom, the largest Arabic-language professional profiles service. Marcus Brauchli, NBM Managing Partner and former editor of both the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, will join Majarra’s board of directors.
Maroc Telecom launches OTT service Maroc Telecom has launched a new OTT platform created, operated and managed by Molotov Solutions. MT TV consists of three packages of local and international linear channels, as well as premium SVOD offers such as StarzPlay, OSN and PlayVOD. Maroc Telecom is also using payment technology from Digital Virgo,
Molotov Solutions’ preferred partner. The Moroccan operator is using the Molotov package to aggregate and distribute linear, replay and VOD content, EPG, start-over, NPVR, accessibility, subtitles, search, follow, share, HD, UHD, download-to-go and virtual reality. There’s also Arabic language localisation.
SynProNize acquires two Arabic series for distribution in Africa and Pakistan Dubai content distribution and production company SynProNize has acquired two Arabic drama series – Beirut Bride from MBC Group for distribution in Ghana, and Egyptian production Al Nihaya from Synergy Advertising for Pakistan. SynProNize co-founder Hasnaa Descuns said: “SynProNize has always strongly believed in the potential for Arabic content to be consumed by audiences from beyond just the MENA region. These
deals are just the beginning of an ongoing effort by us to take Arabic content to the rest of the world.”
Beirut Bride has been acquired for distribution in Ghana.
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PRONEWS
Nigeria’s BossFM 95.5 station goes virtual with Lawo IP radio software BossFM 95.5, a contemporary FM radio station operating out of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, recently replaced the digital console at its on-air studio with R LAY, Lawo’s IP-based virtual radio software, to ensure its talent’s work was made as straight-forward and intuitive as possible. With this upgrade, BossFM 95.5 claims to be the first actual virtual radio station in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory. The talent-first design and immediacy of the on-air studio’s desktop layout are provided by Lawo’s professional and affordable R LAY software suite, which offers a full-blown broadcast mixer and more: mixing, processing, and routing can be performed on a touchscreen connected to
The team at BossFM in Nigeria.
an off-the-shelf PC—or on a laptop, for on-location shows. R LAY allows BossFM to mix 24 audio sources as well as AES67-compliant AoIP signal streams directly on the station’s PC, for pristine audio production and output. BossFM 95.5’s owner especially appreciates the fact that “Showing our
on-air talent and staff the basic functionalities of this novel tool took just a couple of hours. The first show presented with our new virtual setup went live that same afternoon.” R LAY’s seamless integration with third-party hardware and applications has allowed BossFM to
turbocharge its capabilities, with enough resource capacity to expand even further, in line with future needs. Other members of the R LAY product family, like VPB Virtual Patch Bay, VSC Virtual Sound Card and AES67 Stream Monitor software, provide comprehensive tools that make it possible to have an all-in-one radio station right on a PC. Opeyemi Ogunsaju of Mega Cyber Plus, Lawo’s partner in Nigeria, who was in charge of system integration and service support, confirmed: “R LAY’s simple and straightforward looks are deceptive. This virtual radio suite brings professional radio production to any radio station, complete with Audioover-IP and internal routing.”
IBC announces 2021 Innovation Awards shortlist IBC has released the shortlist for its 2021 Innovation Awards. Winners and their technology partners will be honoured at an awards ceremony held as part of the event that will take place from December 3-6 at the Rai in Amsterdam. The Content Creation shortlist includes Netflix for creating the first-ever hand-drawn anime with experimental 4k and HDR; RRN and Riedel for the first fully decentralised production of a live, global music event; Songbird, the first American feature film to
return to production during the covid lockdown using camera to cloud technology; and Timeline Television for its remote broadcast app Stream Anywhere. There are five on the shortlist for the Content Distribution category: Boeing live-streamed the Starliner’s return from orbit in HD broadcast quality, with sub-one second latency from a remote desert location for NASA TV, BT Sport delivered fully remote coverage of the 2021 UEFA Europa League Final from Poland in 4k HDR and Dolby Atmos sound,
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MGM Studios launched a new blockchain-backed platform with Eluvio that provides a more efficient, secure and cost-effective way to deliver ultra-low latency video, Migo created an entirely new way to deliver digital content in countries that lack a widespread broadband infrastructure, and Riot Games used JPEG XS compression for two major trans-Atlantic esports tournaments. The Content Everywhere category also sees five projects honoured: BT Sport developed new technologies
to recreate the match day experience for live sports fans watching their teams at home; Deutsche Fußball Liga enhanced the Bundesliga world feed with an interactive service; In The Room used AI and exclusive Ultra HD content for consumers to interact “faceto-face” with personalities like Nile Rodgers; Mediapro was shortlisted for the rapid growth of Ubeat, its free esports and entertainment multiplatform; and Sky Sports and SimplyLive for their remote production partnership.
PROSUMMIT
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PROSUMMIT
BREAKING NEW GROUND WITH THE CLOUD With the Covid-19 outbreak creating a huge appetite for binge-watching services, entertainment platforms experienced massive traffic, compelling media houses to ramp up their in-house technology services to cope with the spike. As a result, cloud, IP solutions, remote productions and other new technologies that may have been on the to-do list were moved to top priority by some broadcasters. The BroadcastPro Tech Summit addressed some of these new developments through panel discussions and presentations
INTRODUCTION
BroadcastPro ME’s two-day Tech Summit included several takeaways for broadcasters, content providers and backend technology suppliers. The virtual event held over June 14-15 covered topics on cloud adoption, migration to IP-based systems, coping with the rush on streaming services and maximising the potential of data to offer a better user experience. Besides panel discussions, the first day featured presentations from OSN and Pebble, while day 2 included an interesting presentation on cloud playout and streaming from qibb by Techtriq. Peter Riz, CTO, and Zahra Zayat, Senior VP – OTT Digital and Telco, spoke about the relaunch of the new OSN streaming app and presented a case study of the app’s development and journey so far. Pebble Director of Sales and Marketing Alison Pavitt and CTO Miroslav Jeras held a discussion about solving the challenges of connection management in an IP world. While they agreed that there are many noted benefits to the wholesale move to IP, they also admitted that it comes with the “unwelcome spectre of increased complexity”. In this context, they looked at how the industry could navigate from one state to the other seamlessly. Day 2 of the Tech Summit began with a presentation by Hans Baumgaertner, Senior Solutions Architect Cloud
at qibb by Techtriq. Playout solutions are increasingly moving to the cloud owing to the speed, scalability and cost efficiency of launching pop-up channels and distributing content across different platforms. Given this perspective, Baumgaertner took us on a journey to show how this can easily be achieved with out-of-the-box SaaS solutions, and how an individual cloud playout architecture can also be built with a vendor- and infrastructure-agnostic cloud application management and orchestration platform.
KEYNOTE PANEL
The keynote panel at the BroadcastPro Tech Summit brought together industry leaders to share their experience during the lockdown and the best ways to leverage the cloud for operational efficiency and greater elasticity, while ensuring it remains budgetfriendly. We had end users and solution providers on the panel, representing regional and international players, which ensured a good mix of opinions. Nicolas Hans, Partner, Middle East and Africa for Broadcast Solutions, moderated this panel, with Faraz Arshad, VP of Technology & Infrastructure at StarzPlay;
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In their keynote presentation, Peter Riz and Zahra Zayat highlighted the technical and commercial strategies OSN has undertaken to up its game in the MENA OTT market.
Manish Kapoor, VP of IT and Broadcast at Zee TV MENAP; Chris Fellows, Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering, International, Zixi MENAP; and Jared Timmins, Senior VP of Solutions at TVU Networks, joining the conversation. During the lockdown, StarzPlay experienced 400 times the traffic it was used to and coped with that “tsunami of traffic” primarily because of the “efficient cloudbased CDN and hybrid solutions” it has had in place since 2017, maintained CTO Faraz Arshad. “With Covid, user engagement behaviour and consumption patterns have changed. So, we began to offer recommendations based on their consumption profiles. We looked at churn and the longer life cycle of the customer. Those computer recommendations were generated on the edge on local servers instead of at the origin, and that was hugely beneficial for a consummate user experience.” Zee TV in Dubai transitioned to a complete remote operation with IP solutions, and moved to the cloud during Covid to avoid any negative impact on its production and scheduling, Manish Kapoor said. “Due to our
operations using a hybrid cloud solution, our post-production was done in India and cloud playout was in another part of the world. We could deliver our channels to the US and other countries.” But Covid didn’t just help media
“We started delivering channels over IP using the cloud with different protocols ... and during Covid, we increased the pace of implementation” Manish Kapoor, VP of IT and Broadcast, Zee TV MENAP
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houses accelerate the move to the cloud; it also led to the development of new business models, commented Jared Timmins from TVU Networks. “Covid took away that 24-month transition period that may have been available before to move to the cloud, and now that many have moved, I don’t see any reason to go back, given the advancements we have been able to provide operators and content owners to do things differently. We are no longer bound to the old workflows.” With cloud transitions being more than just flicking a switch and requiring a move from a CAPEX to an OPEX model, everyone agreed that a complete shift in mindset was critical to efficient cloud use. “It’s not a lift-and-shift job, so you won’t get benefits of using the cloud if you do that,” Fellows explained. “Cloud is built for elasticity. The first step would be to look at the different vendors with whom you can host. Most clients want redundancy across different vendors with a simple user interface that spans all those vendors. It is critical to identify the right vendors, get a good user interface and reduce the compute requirement. By using a sensible streaming codec and protocol, you can reduce that requirement and reduce your bills each quarter.” Kapoor agreed that Zee had seen significant cost benefits from its move to the cloud. “We started delivering channels over IP using the cloud with different protocols like Zixi or the SRTs, and during Covid we increased the pace of implementation. We realised significant cost savings in terms of satellite space, uplinking and even fibre to a large extent. We plan to implement more features of live content replacement on the cloud in the immediate future.” The discussion then moved to data and how it is processed to build better business cases
PROSUMMIT
“With Covid, user engagement behaviour and consumption patterns have changed. So, we began to offer recommendations based on their consumption profiles” Faraz Arshad, VP of Technology & Infrastructure, StarzPlay and user experiences. “The important thing is to classify the data you collect so it can become useful to the stakeholders in the organisation, from content to marketing, and you can see what features to offer to your audience,” explained Arshad. “It helped us achieve our KPIs in terms of discovery, engagement, performance of the customer, sentiment analysis, pricing and so on.” He added that it also helped them understand how people in KSA, for instance, skewed towards some packages while UAE residents showed a different preference. Hans asked: Has all this made broadcast engineering a data scientist’s business? “People typically like to see video on a monitor wall, although you get more information from
data off the stream,” explained Chris Fellows. “Zixi, for instance, is introducing our intelligent data platform and can look at jitter on a network connection and detect pits in a video stream – all those things you can’t get from a monitor wall. If we use that information in an intelligent way with machine learning (ML) and AI to predict whether there are problems on that stream – say, for instance, if it will go off in six hours … that’s another way in which data can be used.” Timmins seconded that and explained that data, cloud, AI and ML are all interconnected, part of a new ecosystem that could take broadcasters to the next level. “It’s about how we handle data, not just around the customers or the data integrity of the streams, but also data based on EDL information of when you made a switch between two sources and why you made the switch. At a lower level, it’s what we can do with object and facial recognition, transcription, even scene recognition for sports. AI is really moving so fast in terms of what we can do with it. If you look at what Google and Amazon and Microsoft are doing with it … these tool sets are already available, which we are not fully exploiting in broadcast. When you talk about the financial element of the cloud, it changes everything. Before, we had to build facilities for the worst possible scenario, where every input was maxed on a router, and every switcher and operator station utilised all the time. Now, I can build functional elements and spin those up as needed. It is about the art of creating microservices and creating them in a way that works with customers differently than just saying that this is a product that everyone must consume. We can now build adaptable technologies and solve our customers’ problems. Working with them helps them to figure out how to revolutionise their business into the future.”
He added that one worry is that people will simply take things as they are in a traditional set-up and move them into the cloud. “My biggest concern with the cloud is that we are just taking the routers and the switchers, the replays and the playout engines, and taking them exactly as they are in a traditional set-up, and putting these in the cloud and keeping the same operational paradigm. We are no longer relying on multiviewers and people to understand how our systems are performing. Our business choices will be informed by a new level of data and collaboration and our ability to scale up and down. That whole operation will breathe in the cloud. “We have a brand-new template that we can work on. Since broadcasters have moved to the cloud, we don’t need to go back to
“Our business choices will be informed by a new level of data and collaboration and our ability to scale up and down. That whole operation will breathe in the cloud” Jared Timmins, Senior VP of Solutions, TVU Networks
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what we had in the traditional set-up. We have way more cool things we can set up and work on if we get rid of our old operator mentality.” The panellists agreed that changing mindsets across the board is critical to successfully implementing a cloud solution within a company. Fortunately, as a young entrant, this was not difficult for the likes of StarzPlay, since most of the people it hired already worked in cloud environments. “We never had to convert anyone from a traditional broadcast setup. Most people we hired already worked in the cloud, so we didn’t experience those challenges. To automate our workflows, we worked with people who had worked with ML. We focused more on automation and training our staff on the overall delivery of the project. We looked at ML models to deliver more assets with automation,” explained Arshad. Fellows commented that Zixi takes
“People typically like to see video on a monitor wall, although you get more information from data off the stream” Chris Fellows, Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering, International, Zixi MENAP
three billion data points from video streams and “you can’t get that from traditional SDI and infrastructure”. Timmins explained how new experiences are being shaped with the new cloud ecosystem. “We are building new experiences, and a lot of it has been forced upon us. We see a lot of user-generated content (UGC) taking over with its own form of infrastructure. With sports teams, you can create a whole new tier that you can sell because people can have a closer experience with the players. Content is becoming bi-directional – not just voting and polling, but allowing audiences to interact with the players. So, for instance, you can high-five people on the stands, or the players can drop in on the box seats and chat. Everything is moving towards a personalised experience.” He pointed out that there are so many disruptions in the cloud. “If the broadcast industry doesn’t see the opportunity, small niche startups or large cloud companies will take over, because they are coming at it from a different angle. If we don’t treat live production in the cloud like game engine companies treat video games in the next five years, we will have missed the opportunity for broadcast to transition to the next level. The concept of having fixed cameras, fit-for-purpose gear that you spin up for just one kind of utilisation case with a broadcastto-many output will not sustain the revenues or the growth that broadcast companies need, moving into the future. “Today, our phones can do what broadcast cameras do today with 5G components. In five years, we will not know what broadcast is doing. Deepfakes and everything that is happening outside our industry is something for us to look at. We should use the new toolsets instead of copying yesterday in the pursuit of tomorrow.” Although regional broadcasters have not exploited AI’s potential to its fullest, its ability for audio detection, violence and nudity detection, facial recognition, scene comprehension, removing people
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Nicolas Hans, Partner, Middle East and Africa for Broadcast Solutions, moderated this panel.
unauthorised to be on shows, the ability for automated clipping and so on will be hugely beneficial in a region that is particular about culturally sensitive content. Fellows pointed out that monitoring also plays an important role here. “We need to monitor those linear streams and the software in the cloud. You need a decent control plane to be able to do that, and you want to limit the number of systems with just a single platform monitoring all that. So, install a system that can utilise everything without reinventing new monitoring solutions, and have monitoring for each system.” Some of the key takeaways from the discussion: the move to the cloud is inevitable; data is the key to unlocking the mind of the customer and ensuring more efficient processes; exploring AI and ML beyond its basic functions will lead to greater success; and the industry’s tech approach will be more micro-app and talentbased, rather than skills-oriented. “I don’t say we throw out the old, but we have a new world to explore and can reinvent the businesses, whether it is sports, playout or OTT – and we must be ready for that,” Timmins concluded.
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PROSUMMIT
PANEL 2: THE EVOLVING MENA OTT STORY
The second panel took an indepth look at how tech teams could help improve the user experience and reduce churn within an OTT ecosystem through data, recommendation engines, payment gateways, delivering a broadcast-quality experience and exploring regional telco partnerships. Moderated by Suhail Ahmed, CEO of One Diversified LLC, it brought together Bachir Boumediene, Director Streaming & IPTV – Telecom Partnerships MENA, OSN; Barry Mehdizadeh, CTO, Mawarid Media & Communications Group; and Salloum El Dahdaah, CEO of White Peaks Solutions. Data was hailed as all-important to improving the user experience on OTT platforms, with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) serving as the tools for more accurate user profiling and recommendations, to ensure less churn and greater stickiness. The panellists also agreed that data is the perfect sales tool to help make good business decisions. With data, a platform provider has greater access to who is viewing what and when, enabling media houses to better segment their users intelligently and make recommendations. “Without data, we cannot drive the ship and see what is happening on our product,” commented Boumediene. “Using data in analytics to support our ML and AI in the backend helps us offer a much better customer experience.” El Dahdaah stated that it is so important that “data analysis is the centre of our consultancy” – without it, “you are operating completely in the dark”. In analysing how to create a bespoke personalised experience so as to “create that immortal customer who never jumps ship”, as Ahmed put it, without causing search fatigue,
“We need to recognise that there is a massive opportunity in terms of subscribers, but connectivity issues remain a challenge” Bachir Boumediene, Director Streaming & IPTV – Telecom Partnerships MENA, OSN Mehdizadeh said that to make more successful recommendations, platforms need to go beyond personalisation to analysing viewers’ moods. “People on a weekday may behave differently from a weekend or have a
different mood on a weekend with friends compared to without. You listen to different types of music depending on your mood. The same is applicable to viewing as well. Moods change even during the day, so the ability to gauge that and make a recommendation would likely yield better results,” he said. El Dahdaah said his team already applies this to some extent. “When we see a lot of navigation on the first page and a person has been searching for five minutes and not started watching anything, a pop-up appears asking, ‘What is your mood like, what kind of movie do you want to watch?’ and so on, and the platform starts making suggestions based on that.” In the case of OSN, Boumediene said the new streaming app has up to five profiles to cater to different kinds of household, as well as different kinds of appetites within a household. OSN has also invested heavily in improving its search and implementing smart search “so you can search on the app by the actor, director and what you are viewing … This ensures more stickiness from a user perspective and more recommendation. We can push more content based on what they watch.” In case anyone forgot content
Pebble Director of Sales and Marketing Alison Pavitt and CTO Miroslav Jeras held a discussion about solving the challenges of connection management in an IP world.
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PROSUMMIT
“There is no GCC IX. I want an IX where I can access all the GCC ISPs. When we reach that point, we will be able to provide an amazing quality of service” Salloum El Dahdaah, CEO, White Peaks Solutions in the midst of a tech discussion, El Dahdaah hastened to add that a platform can have the best technology and personalisation elements, but is only as good as its content: “If you don’t have a good and varied portfolio of content on your platform, nothing else matters.” Social media was also lauded as a great marketing tool for generating interest in specific titles on platforms. Boumediene, for instance, cited Friends: The Reunion as a case in point for OSN. “There was a massive buzz around Friends: The Reunion on social media. People hopped in just to see that. El Dahdaah cautioned, however, that social media is best reserved as a tool for marketing purposes. “I advise those in OTT to use social media only for marketing and feedback. Otherwise, the platforms are getting your users’ data but you are not getting much in return. It’s
not the right platform for a sign-up.” With several platforms seeing an opportunity to entice users to their services through games and a reward system, Ahmed asked if panellists were open to using games to lure more subscribers. While everyone agreed about the natural tie-up between content and gaming, El Dahdaah remarked that gamification is less applicable in an SVOD environment; it is a “better fit for sports platforms and may apply to AVOD for engagement”. Boumediene described the situation as “tricky”. “Games are also important to kids. You want to create the right content for kids, and you want to make the space pleasing and engaging, but you also don’t want to create addiction – and there is just a thin line between the two. This market is not stringent in terms of what you show kids. Making sure the content that you are providing meets the social and ethical needs of the community is important. There are people who work with us to just ensure that our kids programming is good,” he said. The discussion then turned to payment gateway and its regional and legal challenges. In a region where credit card usage is still quite low, most streaming services have had to explore other payment options to woo new subscribers, such as partnerships with telco operators, e-vouchers, and weekly and monthly payments through their mobile services. The other big challenge lies in the fact that while the wealthier GCC countries are on a par with global players on several counts, including bandwidth connectivity, the rest of the Arab world is way off the mark. “We work in economies that are driven by cash and don’t have digital payments to the scale that we need. So apart from Google and Apple integration, we are ramping up our telco integration, because this is huge. We have also gone with e-vouchers that have established a distribution system. Being able to enable e-vouchers through them, whether it is cashless or cash payment, has been hugely beneficial,” explains Boumediene.
“However, we need to recognise that there is a massive opportunity in terms of subscribers, but connectivity issues remain a challenge. From OSN’s perspective, our core market is still the GCC, so we haven’t faced any issues just yet. As we ramp up our efforts in other regions, CDN challenges will start coming up.” This brought the discussion to the current challenges with CDNs and the lack of support from telcos, a sore point for several reasons with most broadcasters. The lack of a good regional IX to access all the GCC ISPs and the lack of a commercially viable pricing point from regional telcos has led to many challenges for local media players. “There is no GCC IX. I want an IX where I can access all the GCC ISPs. When we reach that point, we will be able to provide an amazing quality of service,” commented El Dahdaah. Also, unlike their global
“It won’t always be a case where telcos need OTT. Both need each other, so they must see how they can leverage each other’s strong points” Barry Mehdizadeh, CTO, Mawarid Media & Communications Group
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Suhail Ahmed, CEO of One Diversified FZ LLC, moderated the second panel.
counterparts, regional telcos have not been open to exploring better bandwidth pricing options with media houses. “Telco operators need to look at media houses from a different perspective. Broadcasters cannot provide 40-50% of their income for broadband. Technology is only around 10-15% of their costs. Content eats into most of their investment budget. If a telco is serious about being a partner with broadcasters, it must cut their cost and help them with more sensible prices,” El Dahdaah said. The panellists added that there is global disruption in the telco space – if local players don’t get their act together, they will lose a good opportunity. “We know that the likes of Starlink are emerging as a global player, and so is Amazon. What if they come and give Starlink free with Netflix as a bundle? Telco operators will lose audiences. Telcos should see things from a different perspective before it is too late,” El Dahdaah cautioned. He urged the telcos to “work with us and provide us with the space to provide nodes at a good rate, so we can in turn offer a good quality of service”. Boumediene said, “The business case for telcos is straightforward … The ongoing challenge is that some telcos are trying to defend their market position and they are proactively trying to develop their
own OTT and apps to cater to this space. Slowly but surely, they will conclude that they must focus on what they do best … if they established their connectivity and sold their core services, that would be better, rather than competing with OTTs and taking on their roles. Partnership and aggregation would be best, so they become more relevant to their customers as the ecosystem evolves.” Mehdizadeh seconded this, adding that partnerships between OTT players and telcos will become increasingly relevant. He called for greater collaboration and cooperation. “Telcos should do what they do best: selling broadband, core access and so on. It won’t always be a case where telcos need OTT. Both need each other, so they must see how they can leverage each other’s strong points to offer a better quality of entertainment to the MENA region,” he concluded.
PANEL 3: CLOUD IS THE FUTURE
Most solution providers had been touting IP and cloud solutions for the preceding couple of years, but these truly became invaluable during the Covid-19 outbreak, when remote working became the norm for most companies. This panel aimed to analyse how companies in the local market adapted to the new normal, what challenges they were up against in considering remote operations, and what tweaks to their in-house technologies were necessary. The moderator was Hasan Sayed Hasan, Managing Director of UAEbased consultancy Master Media, and the panel consisted of Raad Haddadin, Head of Engineering & IT at Roya TV, Jordan; Jean-Claude Rahme, Head of OB Engineers, LIVE, Abu Dhabi Media Company; Deepraj Sandhar, Regional Manager at Ross Video Middle East; and Peter Van Dam, founder of Audio Video Consulting UAE. It was established at the beginning
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of the panel that Covid-19 posed a lot of similar challenges, but also some that were unique to each panellist, and that each had dealt with them differently. All of them represented companies that had to work remotely to varying degrees, and use their time differently. In the case of Roya TV, the editorial and graphics team were asked to work from home, with equipment provided to ensure they could function effectively. However, engineering and operations staff had to continue work from the office. “We separated them into three groups, so if anyone had Covid, we could isolate just one group and the rest could continue,” commented Raad Haddadin. Most Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) staff, by comparison, worked from home with a VPN connection. ADMC also used the opportunity to refurbish one of its trucks, as most of them were sitting idle during the lockdown. Peter Van Dam, CTO of Alamiya in Saudi Arabia and owner of Audio Video Consulting UAE, said the
“I expect to see a hybrid situation in the near future with regard to remote production” Peter Van Dam, founder, Audio Video Consulting UAE
PROSUMMIT
production house moved to ENG work and awareness campaigns in the absence of other work. “Edits were done remotely and then uploaded to one of our servers. We also used the time for refurbishment and for 100% cloud productions.” Ross Production Services, the production arm of Ross Video, looked at how it could innovatively support sports events in North America when its traditional operations came to a standstill. “During the pandemic, commentators became critical to most live events, but they could not travel to the studio. So, we looked at how we could help and potentially provide valuable contribution to the viewers. Since Teams, Zoom and the like offered pretty low-quality video, we developed our own version of a contribution tool – a cloud-enabled solution. This way, most of the commentators and analysts could work from home but could talk to other contributors and producers off-air on the same platform. If the studio wanted to stream the video back to the talent, they could; and this way, we were able to give them the same experience they would have if they were in the studio,” said Deepraj Sandhar. Having tasted the efficiency of operating remotely and the success of remote productions, the moderator asked if companies would ever be willing to go back to a full traditional OB set-up for live event coverage. It was unanimously agreed that because of the unique power of telcos in the MENA region, where connectivity continues to be prohibitively costly, OB production will continue to play a big role. “To rent connectivity is tough, so we can’t do remote production,” commented Jean-Claude Rahme, though an opportunity at the upcoming Expo will help the team move towards its goal. “We are building a full-IP solution
Baumgaertner spoke about the qibb ultimate cloud application management platform.
and gallery for our Expo coverage. This will be native IP all the way, from the camera to streaming, and our plan after Expo 2020 is to move this IP kit to refurbish one of our OB trucks. We aim to put all our equipment in a support truck, so the main OB then functions like a control room. We can link both OBs over fibre and this will move us to the next stage of remote production,” elaborated Rahme. Saudi Arabia, however, seems way ahead in terms of remote production,
“IP is no longer the future, but the present” Jean-Claude Rahme, Head of OB Engineers, LIVE, ADMC
according to Van Dam, who said that remote production was approached differently by various parties. In some cases, people were able to keep all their tech services in one place while sourcing talent from various countries. The other remote production was through a full cloud solution. He explained that DAWIYAT KSA has established fibre connectivity in most of its football stadiums, which boast 6GB connectivity and can go to 40GB if needed. “I expect to see a hybrid situation in the near future with regard to remote production, where we will probably see three OBs instead of 10 for an event coverage and better remote production tools.” Sandhar said that remote production must ultimately culminate in having one’s entire service production in the cloud. “As IP becomes more accessible and telco providers open up and the transmission of video over SMPTE 2110 or NDI, etc becomes more stable, we will begin to see a transition from remote production at a local level to cloud-enabled remote production rather than point to point. Point to point is what we are seeing at the moment.” Although a complete cloud-enabled environment may be difficult to
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“Once we have greater confidence that there will be no downtime and this is fool-proof, we will move to IP” Raad Haddadin, Head of Engineering & IT, Roya TV track at present in MENA and IP ecosystems remain rare, most media houses are taking their first steps into these spaces, thanks to the lockdown. Roya TV, for instance, is clear that it will stick to its current OB arrangement and will not consider remote production. However, it still moved all its archives to the cloud during the pandemic. “We also had to do playout from the cloud, and we did a POC with one company which went successfully, so our operators could operate from anywhere,” said Haddadin. “We did, however, have some challenges with the cloud. They say upload is very cheap, but they make downloads very expensive. You can’t download very high-quality files, especially when you have 4K files, because of the cost involved – so you need to stick to your remote access, local workstations and local storage “Regarding studios, we can’t go from the cloud. My OB van did serve as my DR gallery,
which could be looked at as remote production in case my station went off-air, but it was not in the cloud.” Public broadcasters in the GCC specify that their content cannot be located outside the region. As a result, cloud has thus far served in a limited capacity. Van Dam pointed out that Alamiya used cloud in two ways. “One was for archive. They wanted to do quality control and monitoring. There was a request that content was available for one of our international partners in Italy, who were making a weekly programme, and they wanted it available in the cloud. We had an Alamiya Media Cloud and we created a proxy so it was easy to browse and edit the files. “We also gave access to the clubs, and this was more interesting. Before, if you had an archive on the premise, it became difficult to access. By having this in the cloud, we could give them limited access to their assets and we could decide how to do it – whether to offer only three minutes of a match or whether we wanted to just give highlights. There were options. “The other was with TVU. Last August, we did projects with TVU and we used their Producer solution where we created programmes with international guests. It was a great step in the direction of what was possible in a full cloud solution. For tier 2 and tier 3 productions, where budget was limited and platform was OTT, we used this solution.” Ross has prioritised which parts to move into the cloud, commented Sandhar. “Non-video-based applications like MAM and newsroom systems that didn’t require much bandwidth and don’t require that much video were moved to the cloud. Likewise playout, which has less impact on real-time workflows and archive connectors, went into the cloud. Slowly, we were pushing towards real-time production. We started using these for the cloud as well. “Now we have an asset management company under our umbrella who also do a cloud-enabled asset management system. We will see some real-time
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videos start to transition as well, like editorial, production switcher workflows, and then it comes down to how to get that video up or down – and IP is the answer to that. IP is the enabler of the cloud and gives people an opportunity to move to the cloud quickly.” Hasan concluded this segment with the remark that MENA broadcasters are presently using select services typically within contribution, distribution and maybe some playout for the cloud, though core production and broadcast remain on-prem. Van Dam, however, predicted that everything will move into the cloud, including routers. “The next phase will see us scale down operations on-prem. You don’t need your graphics or audio operators in the same place anymore, and you can potentially make three different programmes at the same time. You can integrate all the commentators
“We will begin to see a transition from remote production at a local level to cloud-enabled remote production rather than point to point” Deepraj Sandhar, Regional Manager, Ross Video Middle East
PROSUMMIT
and you may sit at home or the stadium. You may want an international commentator, and that’s now possible. Even a director can be sourced from any part of the world, and this is coming soon. It won’t be for tomorrow, but very soon.” As with the previous panel, the lack of cooperation from telcos in terms of both pricing and speed of response to media industry requirements was cited as a serious deterrent to progress. Van Dam called it “a lack of longterm vision of the business case … In Saudi Arabia, we went through Dawiyat, a supplier who had big fibre connectivity and it was great. The UAE already has fibre optics, but sadly its telcos lack the vision.” The discussion then turned to IP and the status quo in terms of converting on-prem structure from baseband and SDI to IP signals. Although Haddadin agreed
Hasan Sayed Hasan, MD of UAEbased consultancy Master Media.
that everyone will move eventually to IP, he said Roya TV has no plans to undertake this migration at this point. “It is risky. You need a lot of investment, training, redundancy, good IT experience and a secure network. I guess once we have greater confidence that there will be no downtime and this
is fool-proof, we will move to IP. However, with the current budget and the management’s vision, we prefer to stay with baseband.” Jean-Claude Rahme remarked that ADMC has decided to move ahead with a full-IP solution, as “it is no longer the future, but the present”. All panellists agreed that IP will see greater traction once standardisation has been established. They also agreed that the whole objective of moving to IP must be to optimise resources and be able to do more with less. Sandhar added that Ross has been developing software-defined processing platforms for the last five years, where licences and resources can be shared. “It doesn’t matter whether the signal is coming across an IP board or an SDI board. The customer can decide whether they want a 2ME switcher or a 4ME switcher.”
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The inaugural GVx Middle East Tech Summit saw industry experts and the GV team come together in a hybrid set-up to discuss some burning tech challenges that are unique to the MENA regon and potential solutions.
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PROINTERVIEW
THERE IS HOPE, OPPORTUNITY, OPTIMISM WITH THE CLOUD
Grass Valley’s positive views on the Middle East market need no introduction; but how ready and willing are regional operators to adopt bluesky technologies? An exclusive, closed-door event gave us the answers … At a time when the term ‘broadcaster’ is increasingly limiting, there’s little doubt that cloud and IP solutions are best suited for fast-tracking performance in a multi-screen culture. Yet while the Middle East offers extraordinary market potential, media companies are plagued by high bandwidth costs, meagre OPEX budgets and strict regulatory and legal boundaries. What’s the roadmap for change? And if the new technologies are simply inevitable, when – and how – will they arrive? To brainstorm, Grass Valley hosted a powerful closeddoor discussion at its inaugural GVx Middle East Tech Summit, inviting key names to address the critical issues and the factors behind incremental change. The meeting was an extension of the Grass Valley Customer Council, which typically brings the company’s leadership together in vibrant sessions with key industry thought leaders. With its end-to-end ecosystem of open standards-based solutions and its role as a trusted partner to many of the creative names in the media and entertainment business, Grass Valley encouraged an assessment of the best means for transitioning to IP and cloud-based infrastructures. So, with a plethora of markets to choose from, why pick the Middle East? Tim Shoulders, CEO and President, Grass Valley, explains: “It comes down to three words: hope, opportunity and optimism. We see these factors in abundance here in the Middle East. Remember, this is the region that not only hosts the World Expo this year but the World Cup in 2022, with the Formula
One events already well-established. It also has a young, ambitious and international population demanding quality in sport, news and entertainment. We see growing IT services as well as a need for more Arabic content. As a globally recognised brand known for state-of-the art market tech, we want to be part of the growth in the Middle East market.” He took the audience through some key market analysis, stating that OTT revenue growth eclipsed that of pay TV in 2020, a trend likely to continue for OTT at the rate of 18% a year. “To enable businesses to take full commercial advantage, we believe in lowering the cost for our customers, as well as increasing operating efficiencies. We provide a unified universal media experience with all the media technology tied into a cloud-enabled platform that lets your business operate from anywhere. Media processing can be deployed in the cloud or on-prem, and you only pay for it as you use it.” Louis Hernandez, CEO of Black Dragon Capital, which acquired Grass Valley in 2020, added that the company was now in good hands and had “the ability to invest in the future, with a cloud ecosystem allowing clients to migrate at the price-point they want”. Bringing the experts together At the heart of the event was an expert panel moderated by Vijaya Cherian, Managing Partner, CPI Trade Media, which set out to “understand a few of the industry’s challenges, and see where the gaps really are”. The round table tackled four key questions: • What are the business dynamics facing media companies in the region?
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• How will this affect the adoption of new technologies? • To what extent are remote and cloud-based workflows being implemented? • How can Grass Valley assist – and where should it focus? The panel provided comprehensive – and often surprising – answers, with high-profile participants from a wealth of stakeholder backgrounds. Responding to the first question, Israel Esteban, CTO at beIN Media Group, highlighted piracy. He said that if rights costs have gone up and one pays for exclusivity but doesn’t get it, this put “the whole universe at risk”. “We have experienced a major threat with piracy. Your biggest competitor is not another business – we’re used to that, and it’s fine. Your biggest competitor is illegal. What that threat means in reality is that incomes aren’t going up: they’re either steady or going down.” Samer Younis, Technical Advisor at Al Kass, spoke about the continuous challenge of trying to bridge the old and the new. “We are looking to improve the quality of our services and offer a better experience to our sports
Fadi Radi, Director of Creative at Al Arabiya News, commented that AI and ML should be an integral part of any infrastructure and product delivery in the future.
viewers. But we are also looking at cloud systems, services on the cloud and piracy, and how to attempt a merger between the old system (SDI) and the new 4K. Nonetheless, we are looking to do more to advance services, particularly in sport, and we need to find the answers very soon.”
“For a cloud service, you need to guarantee that you have money for the next three or five years – and budgeting departments with the government and others don’t have that flexibility” Hasan Sayed Hasan, MD, Master Media
Loriam il ipiet minciet et a num Hasan pointed out that no imporeSayed officil Hasan lacearibus dignia broadcast vendors hadssitia participated venemodignis distota soluptasin recent tenders to the cloud inlitat. the region. ateturemrelated et officia spicilistias
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Ibrahim Nassar, Manager of Broadcast Engineering at a big regional news entity, focused on the impact of the pandemic on news channels. “From our side, as a breaking news channel working worldwide, our biggest challenge was to look at how to continue to produce news from the field in the most cost-effective way. Events are unpredictable and can happen anytime, anywhere. So we have been working on some initiatives that can address this challenge in terms of remote production, adapting workflows quickly, given the pandemic and working from home. “We feel providers, end users and solutions providers must work together to produce solutions that allow us to have flexible, dynamic and scalable workflows in the cloud for production and post-production that can be easily deployed in a SaaS model. Admittedly, Covid-19 has had a positive side in that it forced companies to think outside the box to find more efficient ways of doing business. “The second challenge was the operational model. We have huge costs in running the business worldwide, in terms of contribution, distribution, services, as well as production and post. So we have started shifting out our contribution and distribution services onto IP and are working through our partners. “We do have plans to move to cloud, but it has to be a gradual, phased approach, because we cannot do everything in the cloud from day one. We are looking at an ecosystem that enables us to work in the cloud natively and takes us on the journey for production services as well.” Given the current scenario, the panellists were asked about the potential impact on the adoption of new technologies. Ruba Ibrahim, Director of Operations, Al-Arabiya, introduced a sobering note. “It’s nice to talk about cloud tech, but there are many challenges about the cloud in this part of the world in particular. In the UAE
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Nabil El Madbek, Technology Projects Manager at Abu Dhabi Media, called for solutions that enable greater engagement with the viewer.
and Saudi Arabia, for instance, bandwidth is a serious issue. We’re paying 12-20 times what you pay for bandwidth in Europe and the US, or in Singapore. So we are talking about millions more than what it normally costs for a TV station to have a cloud presence on-prem. “To give an example here, 1MB costs over 300,000 dollars a year. This is very high. In order to have a proper cloud operation, we would require 10 times more of that bandwidth, which translates into millions. So if we need to implement the cloud per se in our business, costs need to be more viable. “There is also the mindset to consider. Traditional production mechanisms have changed – we are a multi-screen industry now, not just a broadcaster anymore. It’s easier for cloud and IP solutions to cater for these new delivery formats. Yet most people are not comfortable with this new reality and prefer the old workflows. So when we change our workflows, we have to think of the cost, the timeline and the mindset of the people.” Nabil El Madbek, Technology Projects Manager at Abu Dhabi Media, pointed out that most media organisations with legacy equipment struggle with the continuous transition to new technologies. “We have been talking about transitions to remote production, UHD, cloud and IP. Tech providers are giving us a lot of products, but we want more engagement with users on how they are adapting to the new technology.” Remote and cloudbased workflows: Is implementation a reality? Hasan Sayed Hasan clearly outlined the many challenges faced by both broadcasters and suppliers. Placing things in context, he pointed out that for the “last few years we have not had many new projects in the region, and that must be the reason for seeing a
delay in the adoption of IP and cloud”. However, he also said that one of the reasons broadcasters are reluctant to adapt to cloud technologies is that “most are comfortable with on-prem solutions”. If any regional broadcasters are indeed embracing cloud currently, it is only within “contribution and distribution”. “We are not yet seeing broadcasters go to cloud for their core business, which is production and broadcasting. In most cases, they want everything to be controlled in-house. In the UAE, national broadcasters are not allowed to locate
Jean-Claude Rahme cautioned that those not willing to embrace IP now will be left behind.
their content outside the UAE and this goes against the very principle of cloud, which is about the technology being distributed globally.” Besides the regulatory aspects, he reiterated, like the other panellists, that cost is a huge deterrent to cloud adoption. “The cost model of the cloud is a big issue. Here, budgets are planned annually and there is no budget allocated for the following year. For a cloud service, you need to guarantee that you have money for the next three or five years – and budgeting departments with the government and others don’t have that flexibility. They only know what they are getting each year. “Converting from CAPEX to OPEX therefore doesn’t work for these regional broadcasters. Service providers therefore will need to come up with a more flexible business model, whether it’s up-front payment or a guarantee of service for a longer period of time.” He also pointed out that most suppliers in the broadcast environment do not seem to be able to provide a 360-degree cloud solution. He cited two cloud projects where broadcast suppliers were unable to bid. “We have been involved in a major cloud project. When the tender was issued, all broadcast suppliers were included and not one submitted a proposal. They
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Hassan Chahine (l) spoke about remote working, while Samer Younes highlighted the challenges of the transition from old to new technologies.
didn’t think the cloud project was for them. That indicates that suppliers are not really ready to have that full large-scale implementation. “Another project that is happening is also for native cloud, and again the media suppliers are not there, because they were not able to fulfil the requirements. Small native cloud solutions are filling that gap, and if broadcast providers are not looking into that, they will lose a big market.” Hassan Chahine, CEO of Media Digital Space, who has been working extensively in Saudi Arabia, said that despite the challenges, Covid-19 will help accelerate cloud and IP adoption. Jean-Claude Rahme, Head of Broadcast Engineers, LIVE Broadcast Facilities, Abu Dhabi Media, cautioned that those “not willing to embrace IP, its benefits and its efficiencies, will get left behind”.
Nassar pushed back on the idea that news production is relatively simple and best done in the cloud. He opined that a hybrid solution may be the answer at present. “At the moment, I think cloud is best suited for event-based production rather than 24/7 news, and it will be more cost-friendly. There are certainly some good arguments for the cloud. But will media networks accept that everything is moved out of house? For now, I think, we must work in a hybrid way until costs decline and on a case-by-case basis –
“Those of us who survive and who will continue to survive will always be able to adapt to the new technology. Need I say there is no alternative?” Del Parks, EVP & CTO, Sinclair Broadcast Group
Tim Shoulders (l), CEO and President of Grass Valley, said the company would like to be part of the growth in the Middle East market.
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cloud is a journey, not a button we can just switch on and off.” Having heard about the challenges in the region, the next question was: How can Grass Valley help? Ruba Ibrahim commented that apart from Microsoft opening a cloud office in the UAE recently, there was no “presence for the cloud in this part of the world … We don’t have a cloud here. In Saudi Arabia, the plan is to have it in three to four years. We have managed to work remotely, but the cloud itself will take more time, as most of our organisations believe in CAPEX and not OPEX.” Israel Esteban said beIN was already moving some of its content into the cloud. “We are going to launch some cloud playout, and we are not doing it because it is a trend. Our platform allows for 30 channels
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Ruba Ibrahim remarked that technology is developed based on feedback from Western audiences, while MENA needs are unique and require a different approach.
to play out, and we have run out of infrastructure. So should we spend $5m in CAPEX, upgrades and the like, or should we move some of our content to the cloud? “We decided on the latter. We have different content – news, sports and entertainment – and some of our channels can more easily be launched in the cloud. One challenge we have is the mindset, but Covid helped us on this front because people adopted things they wouldn’t even have considered before. We expedited the process by many years. Before, operations would have said no if we suggested it. “With cloud, people think you can spin things up easily. This is not true. The cloud will come as building blocks, but they need to be compatible with everything that already exists in our systems. Our operations will want automation, logging, control – and if I spin up something in the cloud and it remains an isolated block, operations will push back and say they want 20 more people to manage it. That’s a challenge. “Integration, testing, etc should become much easier. Otherwise, the time that we would save on cloud will be spent on testing, doing rehearsals, convincing people, and you could either succeed or fail. “So we are not quite there yet. Very few people have the luxury of having the cloud from the very start. Most have legacy equipment.” When new solutions are being created, vendors like Grass Valley must take into consideration the limitations unique to this part of the world, the panellists said. Ruba pointed out that technology is often developed based on requirements and feedback from Western and European audiences, while MENA needs are unique and require a different approach. “This is a booming market, and there is potential for growth in this region. We are getting global
that enables you to work in a public or private cloud environment, and you can use the toolkit differently depending on each individual case. AMPP also expands the capability of your existing equipment and operations by connecting control surfaces from Grass Valley and authorised partners to cloud services. This means you can preserve your fixed investment while elastically expanding to the cloud as needed or required.”
“We’re paying 12-20 times what you pay for bandwidth in Europe and the US, or in Singapore. So we are talking about millions more than what it normally costs for a TV station to have a cloud presence on-prem” Ruba Ibrahim, Director of Operations, Al-Arabiya recognition. When a vendor comes with solutions for this part of the world, they must take into consideration the challenges that exist here and what it will take for us to integrate it with our existing workflows; it must be viable, reliable and cost-effective,” she pointed out. The view from Grass Valley Listening to the debate, Sydney Lovely, Chief Technology Officer, Grass Valley, explained how the company’s “touchstone” creation, the Grass Valley Media Universe, can help with the very challenges the panellists highlighted. “It’s been a really interesting discussion today, and I’m bound to mention that about four years ago, we started investigating how we can bring cloud technologies forward, either with a public or private cloud. GV Media Universe was launched officially a little more than a year ago. It’s built around an incredibly agile media processing platform called AMPP – in fact, we use it to build an entire ecosystem. “The idea is that it’s a universal toolkit
A case in point Closing the day, Del Parks, EVP & CTO, Sinclair Broadcast Group, explained how the concerns expressed by the panel were in reality not so different from the issues that Sinclair – a US media and technology titan – had confronted and largely overcome, courtesy of support from Grass Valley. With a wealth of experience (Sinclair hosts 23 regional sports networks and reaches about 70% of US households), he argued that the environment is no different wherever you go in the world. For example, bandwidth is still an issue in the US, not just in the Middle East. “This really is a global industry, and we can only go as fast as our slowest participant. We need to recognise consumers have the power. What they decide to watch us on is their decision, not ours. The reality is, you can only effectively manage content for diverse communities by using the cloud; and you need to customise like never before. The news you get over your cell phone can be different from the news you get on your laptop. “We are transforming the company in the next three to five years to be completely in the cloud. We need to move to the cloud because our consumers and customers are moving to the cloud. “Remember: those of us who survive and who will continue to survive will always be able to adapt to the new technology. Need I say there is no alternative?”
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PROINTERVIEW
A NEW WAVE OF PODCASTS
It all began with Basel Anabtawi wanting to listen to a good talk show on his night runs. From there, he went on to create Basel Meets before eventually launching Rising Giants Network (RGN), an up-and-coming podcast network in Dubai that hopes to take the MENA market by storm with a raft of new Arabic podcasts. In an interview with BroadcastPro ME, the co-founder and CEO of RGN shares his podcast journey and his vision for the company How would you describe your company in one sentence? Rising Giants Network is a storytelling company focused on immersive audio experiences. How did you get around to starting RGN? RGN was an idea brewing for years. I had started my own podcast, Basel Meets, in 2017 after I wanted to have a talk show in my ear as I did my night running. Then I discovered the wild and wacky world of podcasts. Can you imagine? My head exploded when I saw all this insane content that exists on my iPhone for free! My go-to was Joe Rogan and he became my running companion, then my driving companion and then my cooking companion (I make really good burgers). I then evolved to listening to many other shows like Wondery’s Business
Wars or Gimlet’s StartUp – but what I truly loved was Serial. This prompted me to start Basel Meets. I met many great people through that experience ... but I wanted to bring the art of podcasting to so many more people in our region. It was like I had a secret that I wanted everyone to be in on! So I met Barry Kirsh from BKP as well as Bashar Najjar, a kung fu-level sound engineer, and we decided to move into starting a network for podcasts. And here we are today! When did RGN become operational, and how many stories have you got out there so far? We were founded in the midst of the 2020 lockdowns. We started work around March 2020 and finally launched on July 7, 2020. Since then, we have closed one major round of investment in January 2021, which was valued at
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PROINTERVIEW
Basel Anabtawi at RGN's office in Dubai.
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$1m! That’s how much we think podcasts kick ass! We have 15 podcasts out and we’re going strong. We’re not stopping churning out amazing content any time soon. Tell us about some of your popular podcasts. We have a few shows that have been recurring in the charts. Abou Abdo Al Hakawati has made consistent appearances on the charts since it was released. Our documentary series, Our Darkest Day, a show about the survivors of the New Zealand terror attacks as well as the victims’ families, has been named as a top podcast by Spotify Australia. Our show Sehtak Aham Ma Baraa, which is about wellness and nutrition, has topped the Apple podcast charts. Our latest entry into the Apple podcast charts is the Emirati talk show Kursi Al Ithnain, which is now in the top 3.
We have so many others and are so proud of the progress being made. Assuming that a good script and a fantastic audio experience are critical to a good podcast, how do you ensure that both are top quality? We have our own method of creating – we call it SONICPLAY! We basically follow a set of guidelines that ensures we have top-notch programming. This includes vetting our ideas through a rigorous process, then ensuring we flawlessly execute. SONICPLAY!
“We have closed one major round of investment in January 2021, which was valued at $1m! That’s how much we think podcasts kick ass!” Basel Anabtawi, Rising Giants Network (RGN)
Basel Anabtawi with a colleague at the studio.
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In terms of technology, what does hosting a broadcastquality podcast entail? Let’s be honest, entry into podcasting isn’t hard. You just need a mic and a closet and you’ll be good to go. But with RGN, we’re taking that up a notch. Our closet is a state-of-the-art studio, and our mic is a full sound engineering console that ensures that we make you sound like Morgan Freeman! By using our studios, our sound engineers and our writers, we ensure that we have a well-thought-out show, paced in a great way and with an ambience that really elevates the podcast. So yes, you can do it at home, but with us, it’s just going to sound so much better! How many people are you? We’re seven people right now, and we’re going to be hiring more.
PROINTERVIEW
RGN also has a studio in KSA that works with a lot of Saudi talent.
Can you elaborate on the ongoing challenge of high demand but low supply of top-quality Arabic content? Yep – we’re addressing that gap. We believe that there are so many amazing stories that need to be told in Arabic and in many different contexts. Our goal is to become the number one podcast network in the region, with hundreds of shows under our belts. We’re ambitious. How do podcasts allow meaningful conversations that open your mind on how people feel about current affairs, cooking, travel and anything else that piques your interest? Podcasts are very intimate experiences. First, as a listener you have complete control on what you want to listen to, and once you do and you love what you hear, you develop a solo bond with this show. Think about it – you have a host speaking directly into your ear, with no one else around you. It’s as intimate as it gets. Also, with podcasts, there is no second screen to distract you. It’s because you’re often listening to podcasts while doing something mundane like driving or running. When you listen, your mind is doing all the visual imagination for you, so you are tuned into the discussions of the stories being told. Why are Arabic podcasts an excellent way to hear about experiences that don’t often make it into the mainstream news cycles? Because it’s such a decentralised platform. With so many people jumping onto podcasts, you find many different topics that a lot of mainstream Arabic channels probably don’t cover. There is a lot more room to be creative and to tell stories that may have not been told before.
exist in our region, and we try to use a varied slate. We have a studio in KSA, which means we will also have a large number of Saudi talent coming through our programming. Our Dubai studio is varied in its offering – from Lebanese to Jordanian to Emirati to Iraqi – we have all those accents under our umbrella.
Who is your target audience? How do you address the challenge of language? ’Arabic’ means different things to different people. We want Arabs from all backgrounds to get into our podcasts. Our audience depends entirely on the show we’re building. If it’s a football show, then we look at the football vertical and the audience that exists within that vertical. As for Arabic, we work with different dialects – we love the many different dialects that
When do you think you will break even? Is what you are doing commercially viable? How do you market your stories? We move with the pacing of the market. I’d love to break even tomorrow, but we understand these things take time. All I can say is that we’re super happy with the pacing we’re going with, and we see so many interests from clients, so as we say, INSHALLAH it happens sooner than we think. As for marketing a podcast, it is hard business, but luckily we’ve been fortunate enough to be doing it for 15 shows over a year. We’re developing different and non-orthodox ways of getting our shows to listeners’ ears, be it through influencer marketing, our talent or even through PR
RGN's Dubai studio brings together artists from different parts of the Arab world including Lebanese, Jordanian, Emirati and Iraqi talent.
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PROINTERVIEW
campaigns. We have to have a healthy mix of communication touch points to ensure mass reach. We also let data lead the way ... we work with platforms, apps, publications and various other partners to move our podcasts forward. We need to be clear and targeted with how we speak about our shows. We need to ensure that we are speaking to the relevant audience of that show. I don’t think casting a wide net is doable when it comes to podcasts. Do you have numbers you can share on your current audience and the podcast industry? Do
“Our goal is to become the number one podcast network in the region, with hundreds of shows under our belts. We’re ambitious” Basel Anabtawi, Rising Giants Network (RGN) you have any research on the MENA podcast market specifically? Since we don’t share numbers, all I can say is that we’re growing at a faster pace than initially anticipated. I think this is largely because the whole podcasting environment is growing and we’re growing with it. There
With more than 5m people in KSA that listen to podcasts, and more than 1.3m in the UAE, according to statistics released in April 2020, Basel Anabtawi believes that RGN has a lot of potential in this market.
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are over 5m people in KSA that listen to podcasts, and more than 1.3m in the UAE. These numbers were revealed in April 2020, so it is our estimation that these numbers are much larger today, because we’ve matched up our growth numbers from Ramadan 2020 versus 2021 and the scale of growth is vastly different. There have been way more podcasts, way more downloads and way more conversations around podcast in 2021, and we see that growing in the next few years. The visual medium is so powerful. How do you justify podcasts? Do you do fiction as well as non-fiction, and where do you see maximum visibility? They’re both very different formats with very different uses. Podcasts do not take time from video, because with video, all you can do is sit and watch that particular show. However, podcasting is a different beast altogether. It’s a multitasking format, so essentially we’re just colouring your boring moments. We do not do fiction; we do scripted shows, monologue shows and conversations. So, for instance, our scripted stories are based on true stories. Legendary Rock Stories is based on rock bands that changed the course of history, or Abna Al Dam talks about the true stories of the Italian mafia, or Abou Abdo Al Hakawati finds unknown stories that are written in a fun and poetic way. We have a few historical dramas being scripted and are ready for release as we speak. We get into all sorts of genres, from entertainment and sports to selfdevelopment and scripted dramas. Where are your podcasts available? Everywhere you listen to podcasts, we’re there. Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Anghami, Spotify and other apps.
PROCASESTUDY
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PROCASESTUDY
OSN BREAKS THE MOULD
The BroadcastPro Tech Summit opened with a keynote presentation from the OSN team: Zahra Zayat, Senior VP – OTT Digital and Telco, and Peter Riz, CTO of the pay-TV network. A more elaborate technical discussion on the secret behind the new OSN streaming app was later revealed at a roundtable hosted by the network at its Dubai headquarters. Vijaya Cherian brings you a detailed report While OSN had made several attempts to relaunch its streaming app with OSN Go, Wavo and another iteration in April 2020, the most successful platform launch, with the capability to rival any regional or global platform, was released in April 2021, according to Riz. In the presentation, Zahra Zayat pointed out that the company’s ongoing content and commercial strategy – starting with the launch of Disney+ exclusively on its platform in April 2020, its ambitious expansion to 19 countries in MENA, integration with 23 telcos within the year and additional partnerships with more than 21 players including banks, retailers and e-commerce platforms – had led to its market share going up “from 2% in 2019 to 12% this year”. “With Netflix fatigue, people wanted something different and new, and I believe we were able to bring that to our viewers. Content is a key differentiator and helped us acquire new customers and increase market penetration and reach. Disney+ was the start of a bold move. We are investing in more Arabic and OSN original productions, and that is an ongoing journey. Alongside that, we needed to maximise our reach and exposure, which we are doing through our marketing partnerships. In parallel, we are improving the user experience, and that is where the new app has been critical to this entire project.” CTO Peter Riz said the only way to ensure “an agile and flexible platform that could continue to adapt to changing user expectations and behaviour and varying market needs” was to develop it from scratch so as to not be weighed down by legacy code. But with limited time and engineering resources for launch, and a reasonable but not extravagant budget, he decided to go with a “modular
hybrid platform, where we used a mix of best-of-breed components which we needed to own and develop internally with some of our partners and integrate as a whole”. This led to partnerships with strong international players like Supercharge, Comcast, WeCan, CastLabs, Evergent, Conviva, Dot Screen, Think Analytics and Intive. OSN wanted ownership of some critical parts of its system, like the user gateway and a well-kept little secret called CXB, but there were other individual components it didn’t mind licensing as individual components – the core backend, marketing integration, push messaging, analytics and the like. The team followed a six-box enterprise architecture: the Core Backend; the Customer Experience Builder (CXB); the Front-End Applications; the OSN User Gateway, OSN’s Identity and Entitlement Broker; the Video and Metadata management platform; and the External Data, Analytics, Reporting and Marketing integration building boxes. One company that contributed significantly to the development of OSN’s new platform is Budapestheadquartered Supercharge, a digital innovation company traditionally involved with the development of online platforms and apps for banks, e-commerce sites and the like. “The norm is to create an application in such a way that it talks to the different backend components, but this is cumbersome, tedious and overly sophisticated, as it requires you to put all the heavy logic on it. What we wanted was a light and easy front-end application, and this is why we designed the Customer Experience Builder (CXB). This is a special OSN-owned and OSNdeveloped SuperCharge component,” said Riz. “It is a headless CMS and API gateway, so each and every component that sends any information to the application
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PROCASESTUDY
OSN CEO Patrick Tillieux flanked by David Kovacs, CTO of Supercharge (l), and Peter Riz, CTO of OSN (r). Below, Riz explains the six-box enterprise architecture developed by OSN.
goes through the CXB. In the CXB, we have a very sophisticated editorial tool that the content team can use to create the pages, create the trace, define the logic and the rules on what to show to different user segments. “So, for instance, we can customise those user segments and tell it to show a different landing page to a Saudi user interested in Arabic content, as opposed to, say, a UAE resident. Everything including recommendations, smart search and the like are pushed into the CXB, and this in turn tells the app what to run. Anytime we want to change anything or send a different message to the app, it’s just a few clicks within the CXB and it communicates with the applications. With this method, you unlock many things. This way, you have full control of the presentation and all the applications are simplified because you put the logic to the CXB.” Conceptualising the CXB was one thing. Building it required the support of a company like Supercharge that had the experience and was willing to think outside the box with OSN. To manage timelines while maintaining quality control, a team
was assigned to take care of each of the six parts of the architecture with a delivery manager, dedicated quality assurance personnel and so on assigned to each group. They reported to a managerial team that checked development both on the app side and the part that is used to develop the CXB, which had to be in perfect sync. “Every day at 11am in my office there was a meeting with the different teams. That was the only way to ensure
“Content is a key differentiator and helped us acquire new customers and increase market penetration and reach” Zahra Zayat, Senior VP – OTT Digital and Telco, OSN
Peter Riz and Zahra Zayat delivered the keynote address at the BroadcastPro Tech Summit.
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decisions were made and people could move quickly,” said Riz. With a good understanding of what they wanted to achieve as a business, breaking it down into measurable KPIs, understanding the user needs to create a great product fit and thinking of technology as an enabler rather than a constraint helped the team re-platform its streaming app. Besides the CXB, other components were managed by different solution providers. Wecan, for instance, handles the User Gateway, OSN’s subscriber identity and entitlement broker component that does all the subscriber integration. It is integrated with the OTT subscriber management system for the D2C customers and third-party customers. It is the core of the platform and does the telco integrations and OSN, DTH, CRM, etc. OSN also deployed Comcast Technology Solutions’ Cloud TV Suite, which serves the core backend platform for the app. Comcast helps OSN to support the platform and to centralise, manage and deliver its service at scale. The Cloud TV Suite includes a comprehensive video management platform for the centralised ingest of video assets; easy workflow management; multi-language metadata management; video processing; content protection; entitlements, availability windows and rights enforcement; data analytics and insights; and content delivery and publishing across devices and apps. In addition, Comcast Technology Solutions provides OSN with VOD workflow, including transcoding, and its Content Delivery Network (CDN) Suite for distribution and linear processing – all integrated into a single service level agreement and support model. OSN also partnered with castLabs’ PRESTOplay player
PROCASESTUDY
The OSN team at the roundtable with Supercharge CTO David Kovacs (r).
SDKs to support multiple devices, including browsers, smart TVs, iOS and Android, for the newly launched streaming platform. PRESTOplay SDKs provide the versatility to create high-quality bespoke players with the latest features. ‘API-first’ players for rapid player creation aid in achieving an easier and swifter deployment cycle. While working closely with other companies and integrating third-party solutions such as DOTSCREEN, Supercharge and Intive, CastLabs’ value came with the support of a wide range of devices for a better viewing experience in over 19 countries. An already existing relationship and pre-integration with Conviva allowed smooth integration of analytics. Furthermore, CastLabs’ team of experts provided custom development to enable subtitles for live content. With this new platform, the OSN streaming app can now offer an enhanced user experience with new features, including multiple profiles for friends and
“I am happy because I know the capability of the platform and what it can do in the future, and so I can confidently say that this platform is capable of competing with any streaming service on a global level” Peter Riz, CTO, OSN family, a new dedicated kids’ profile section with parental control, and improved search and discovery. “In an unprecedented period of four months, we successfully built a robust software with an entirely from-scratch scalable architecture, to support OSN’s future expansion plans and vigorous innovations in the pipeline. As designers and developers of the CXB, we look forward to supporting OSN’s promise to deliver the very best viewing experience on any device, anywhere,” commented David Kovacs, CTO of Supercharge, who was also present at the roundtable. The new app undergoes continuous
improvement on different aspects of the platform, for a better user experience. This includes various touchpoints – content, discoverability, recommendation engines, consumer journeys, modes of payments, user interface and user experience (UI/UX), and technical integrations. The transformative solutions implemented to meet OSN customer expectations were carried out at an unprecedented pace, considering the overhaul of the platform’s algorithmic codes. “Today, the goal is to grow as quickly as possible, and we have a roadmap for this animal. Based on the data, business vision and without any limitation, we can grow this platform. On the backend and front-end side, we have continuously made little updates to include new features or enhance existing ones. I am happy because I know the capability of the platform and what it can do in the future, and so I can confidently say that this platform is capable of competing with any streaming service on a global level.”
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PROGUEST
“Changes in how we consume media have resulted in an evolution of the standards that the industry conforms to”
Home studios - a viable approach for MENA broadcast While the shift towards home studio set-ups over the last 12 months might appear to be a case of necessity being the mother of invention, it is actually a trend that pre-dates the pandemic. Even pre-Covid, it was being explored by the broadcast industry, primarily from the desire to reduce operating overheads and made possible by improvements in technology and the adoption of standards that meant both video and audio could be shifted and controlled over IP, in real time. The initial impetus came from sports broadcasters who wanted to reduce the resources required to cover the vast number of events taking place on any given day. But as lockdowns introduced logistical issues, this approach began appealing to a far larger segment of the industry. This acceptance is also driven by the high quality of production now possible from home set-ups, due to rapid advancements in AV technology. This presents a positive feedback loop as incrementally better technology used in consumer cameras and phones has helped drive more prosumer audio and video products, and thereby better production quality. In fact, we’re fast approaching a point where the factors promoting the adoption of home broadcast setups could extend well beyond mere cost reduction. Changes in how we consume media have resulted in an evolution of the standards that the industry conforms to. The convenience of being able to control and manage all facets of production from multiple,
geographically dispersed locations is gradually starting to take precedence over traditional expectations. Consequently, today it’s more the equipment that connects everything together, and ultimately how content is transmitted, that is setting the standard. This paves the way for a previously unimaginable level of flexibility. To get to this stage, though, there are issues that need to be addressed. Beyond the obvious – background noise, interruptions and so on – there are technical challenges. Currently, as most home broadcasting is done via the internet, it can present challenges with having an uninterrupted signal. For this reason, when it comes to longerterm arrangements, I envisage hosts setting up ISDN lines between their home studios and their broadcaster’s hub to ensure a continuous stream. The acoustics of the home studio also need to be addressed. While thick drapes and other forms of dampening are a quick and often essential fix, it is also possible to play with mic types and positions to suppress some of the undesirable effects of reverberant rooms. Even background noise, which might appear to be hard to eliminate, can be effectively suppressed with the use of directional mics and some signal processing. Once professionals broadcasting from home become aware of just how much better their overall content could be by improving audio quality, they tend to take the time to understand and learn to use more elaborate solutions than in-built phone
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mics or Bluetooth headsets. It’s up to audio product manufacturers to then meet them halfway, by ensuring that our prosumer and professional-grade mics are as user-friendly as possible, and don’t require too much manual reading or a degree in audio engineering to get noticeable improvements within two or three attempts! Finally, broadcasters must realise that the shift to home studios offers tremendous upside with little risk or investment. Those concerned about living up to previously established standards can take heart from the evolution of content on YouTube. Once synonymous with amateur footage, the platform today boasts content quality which can rival large-scale productions. And while we must acknowledge the distinct lack of post-production editing and retakes that are a unique characteristic of live broadcast, there are important lessons broadcasters can learn from content creators, particularly when it comes to prosumer equipment. The quality of video and audio from mirrorless/DSLR cameras and prosumer microphones has improved substantially in recent years, though it’s always worth spending a little more to get a lot more. Couple this with new expectations from end consumers, particularly the younger generation, and you can get to a level of broadcast that is engaging and keeps the audience watching – no matter where your hosts and correspondents are based. Ryan Burr is Head of Technical Sales & Application Engineering, Professional Audio at Sennheiser Middle East.
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