BroadcastPro ME March 2021

ISSUE 128 | MARCH 2021

Licensed by Dubai Development Authority

THE 2O2O

WINNERS Celebrating the pathbreakers in TV, production and OTT at the 2020 ASBU BroadcastPro Awards

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PROINTRO

GROUP Managing Director Raz Islam raz.islam@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 4 375 5471 Managing Partner Vijaya Cherian vijaya.cherian@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 4 375 5472 EDITORIAL

Welcome

Editor Vijaya Cherian vijaya.cherian@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 55 105 3787 Contributing Editor Ritika Sharma Sub Editor Aelred Doyle ADVERTISING Group Sales Director Sandip Virk sandip.virk@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 50 929 1845 +44 (0) 773 444 2526

DESIGN Art Director Simon Cobon Designer Percival Manalaysay CIRCULATION & PRODUCTION Production Manager Vipin V. Vijay vipin.vijay@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0)4 375 5713 Distribution Manager Phinson Mathew George phinson.george@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0)4 375 5476 DIGITAL SERVICES Abdul Baeis Sadiq Siddiqui FOUNDER Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015) Published by

It is with great joy that we announce the successful conclusion of the 10th edition of the ASBU BroadcastPro Summit and Awards. We watched with trepidation as the guidelines and social distancing rules changed continuously in parallel with the rising Covid-19 cases, but with strict adherence to the measures set forth by the government, we were able to run the conference during the day and the gala awards in the evening without incident.

Besides the fact that industry professionals were eager to hear how media houses fared in the wake of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown, the opportunity to mingle once again was priceless. We were equally happy to be told that BroadcastPro was the first to have hosted a physical event for the industry since January 2020 across the world.

While the pandemic has made us more receptive to virtual opportunities, the physical platform and face-toface interactions simply cannot be replaced. We felt this was especially true for the awards, where we wanted winners to be able to come up on stage to receive their awards. The BroadcastPro Awards are coveted in this region; we host them with great

The publisher of this magazine has made every effort to ensure the content is accurate on

ISSUE 128 | MARCH 2021

Licensed by Dubai Development Authority

the date of publication. The opinions and views

On this month's cover…

expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the publisher and editor. The published material, adverts, editorials and all other content are published in good faith. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without the permission

THE 2O2O

WINNERS Celebrating the pathbreakers in TV, production and OTT at the 2020 ASBU BroadcastPro Awards

pride and integrity and like to give our award-winners the full honour that is due to them. Therefore, the event in February was indeed a great accomplishment.

Having said that, virtual conferences have the distinct advantage of being able to rope in international speakers as well.

Having successfully conducted an OTT conference late last year, BroadcastPro is pleased to announce The Future of Sports Broadcasting in MENA on March 23 and 24, 2021. We are looking to bring together a cross-section of speakers including regional and international sports bodies, broadcasters and solution providers to discuss some of the new trends in this sector, the challenges posed by the pandemic and how they are being addressed, how rights models are being revisited in light of streaming platforms, how broadcasters aim to retain their position as must-have partners when clubs are considering D2C, and so on.

Please do register to attend the virtual conference. See you in cyberspace.

Vijaya Cherian, Editorial Director

Let’s create a vibrant online broadcast community! @BroadcastProME www.facebook.com/BroadcastProME BroadcastProME

The winners of the 2020 ASBU BroadcastPro Awards.

of the publisher in writing. Publication licensed by Dubai Development Authority to CPI Trade Publishing FZ LLC. Printed by Printwell Printing Press LLC.

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Subscribe online at:

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March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 3

PROCONTENTS

Inside this issue 07 NEWS StarzPlay secures $25m funding from Abu Dhabi firm; Media City Qatar signs deal with Euronews; Abu Dhabi Media chooses Dejero for live news reporting; Front Row and beIN Media Group renew deal; Asharq News launches vertical streaming; IBC announces 2021 plans; and more

17 LEADING FROM

THE FRONT With the unexpected rush of subscribers to streaming platforms, executives scrambled to get content and tech in place. This panel brought together some of the key players in the market

22 THE TECH STRATEGY When the pandemic hit, the responsibility fell on tech teams to ensure seamless business continuity. This panel discussed what they did and their strategies for the future

March 2021 STARZPLAY SECURES $25M FROM RUYA

07

IBC OUTLINES 2021 PLANS

11 OTT LEADERS OUTLINE STRATEGIES TO RETAIN SUBSCRIBERS

17 TECH EXPERTS DISCUSS HOW TO IMPROVE THE USER EXPERIENCE

26 DISRUPTING IN

THE MEDIA SPACE This panel, moderated by Amanda Turnbull, explored some exceptional tales of success in the traditional media business with Finyal Media, the Abu Dhabi Film Commission and Zee Entertainment Middle East

30 BROADCASTPRO AWARDS Despite Covid-19, BroadcastPro successfully celebrated the heroes of the industry last month. We bring you a snapshot of the winners

22 MEDIA EXECS DISCUSS HOW THEY INNOVATED DURING THE LOCKDOWN

26 THE 2020 ASBU BROADCASTPRO AWARDS

40 GUEST COLUMN Bob Bolson on why cloud is becoming increasingly important within the media space

30 March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 5

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PRONEWS

StarzPlay announces $25m debt financing deal with Abu Dhabi firm StarzPlay has received its first independent debt financing in the region of $25m from Abu Dhabi-based Ruya Partners, an independent alternative investment firm focused on private credit investments in developing markets. The funds will be used towards further strengthening the streaming platform’s geographic and customer reach, acquiring and producing original content, and maximising long-term value for its stakeholders.

This investment is the first time that StarzPlay has attracted debt financing from a regional investor.

It adds to the $125m (AED 459m) it has secured since its

From left: Co-founders and managing partners of Ruya Partners Mirza Beg and Rashid Siddiqi, with StarzPlay cofounders Karin Baggström (also CFO) and Maaz Sheikh (CEO).

launch in 2015 from global industry investors Starz, a Lionsgate company, and State Street Global Advisors.

StarzPlay reaches over 1.8m paying subscribers and is installed on more than 6m devices. With a

market share of more than 32%, the platform recorded exceptional growth in 2020, with independent research showing astounding growth of 141% in the number of unique users during the year.

Maaz Sheikh, co-founder

Media City Qatar signs deal with Euronews Media City Qatar has signed a strategic partnership with panEuropean television news network Euronews. The deal will lead to the establishment of a regional office for Euronews and a media academy in Media City Qatar, with the aim of building the capacity of young media professionals and students.

The training academy will provide a state-of-the-art e-learning platform through which modules and live training will be available in both English and Arabic. The regional office will deliver on-site training and work closely with local universities to offer lectures, mentoring and internships through teams of experts in both Doha and Lyon, where the Euronews headquarters are located.

Mohammed Al Sada, CEO of Media City Qatar, said: “This

partnership is an important step in establishing Media City as one of the most popular destinations for world-renowned media institutions and technology companies. We are looking for more strategic partnerships of this kind and hope that this will lead to greater development of the media sector across the region.”

Michael Peters, CEO of Euronews, added: “We are proud to partner with Media City Qatar to launch our ambitious Euronews Academy programme in the region. Euronews has been an example of trustworthy, fact-based, impartial journalism for nearly three decades. We appreciate the opportunity to share our expertise and know-how with young generations of budding media professionals in Qatar.”

and CEO of StarzPlay, said: “This new partnership demonstrates our ability to attract diverse, top-notch institutional investors as we continue to drive growth and ensure a path to profitability.

The UAE’s strong techentrepreneurial ecosystem and this new investment will further strengthen StarzPlay’s capacity to create original content, expand our geographical footprint and cement our lead status as the MENA region’s digital champion.”

StarzPlay was the first entity to secure a licence in the UAE in the SVOD sector, and has achieved significant year-on-year growth.

MBC switches to MediaGenix for on-demand, linear assets MBC Group has selected MediaGenix to manage all of its on-demand services and linear channels in a unified process.

Aus Alzubaidi, Senior Manager – Tech Ops at MBC Group, said: “After running multiple proof of concepts, we chose WHATS’ON for our operations.

MediaGenix was able to demonstrate professionalism, competence and profound understanding of

our core business.”

Tom Donoghue, MediaGenix Business Development Manager, added: “After many trips to Dubai and an intensive MediaGenix proof of concept phase lasting three weeks, we were confident that WHATS’ON and MediaGenix had proven more than capable of being able to handle the exciting challenges that working with MBC will bring.”

March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 7

PRONEWS

Abu Dhabi Media switches to Dejero to enhance live news reporting Abu Dhabi Media has rolled out Dejero EnGo 260 mobile transmitters, WayPoint receivers and CuePoint low-latency return video servers, following a 2020 tender contracted local systems integrator Ideal Systems. The UAE public service broadcaster will use Dejero to enhance its live news reporting capabilities across the country.

Dejero’s technology has been central to Abu Dhabi Media’s successful live

coverage of a number of events since it was rolled out. The use of EnGo 260 transmitters, WayPoint receivers and CuePoint return servers allowed the national broadcaster to capture highquality, flawless coverage of a fireworks display. Such coverage is complex to accomplish with low-latency but was achieved using the Hybrid Encoding Technology built into the Dejero kit.

The combination of Dejero’s Smart Blending

OSN to launch new Original Kayd Majhool

Kayd Majhool will debut on OSN Ya Hala Al Oula and OSN Streaming on March 18.

OSN has announced the addition of a new drama series to its list of original productions. Kayd Majhool (Anonymous) will debut on OSN Ya Hala Al Oula and the OSN streaming app on March 18. It stars Basel Khayat and Abdelmonem Amayri in intense roles.

Directed by Alsadeer Masoud and written by Mohamed Abu Laban and Lewa’a Yazajy, the eight-episode psychological thriller follows two parallel stories intertwining at the end of the season. The series will be available in English subtitles as well as English dubbing for a wider audience segment in the region.

8 | www.broadcastprome.com | March 2021

Technology and Hybrid Encoding Technology forms a tightly integrated system that maximises video quality by responding in real time to changes in network characteristics and video content. These technologies are ideal for low-latency and live video contribution scenarios, allowing broadcast and media teams across the world to deliver real-time, high-quality video even under the most challenging bandwidth-

constrained scenarios.

Ayman Alkhatib of Ideal Systems said: “During testing, the EnGo outclassed other products in terms of picture quality and performance. Abu Dhabi Media also uses CuePoint extensively for confidence monitoring and plans to leverage the technology for teleprompting in the future. Full 5G coverage is coming in the UAE, and Abu Dhabi Media is ready to roll this out with Dejero.”

Roya TV brings all operations under RMG brand Jordanian broadcaster Roya TV has consolidated all its operations under the newly launched banner of Roya Media Group (RMG). The group brings together a number of departments, including its digital and news platforms, an online shopping service and two new products – Roya Kitchen and Roya Kids, both

scheduled for a 2021 launch.

RMG also covers the Roya Academy for Media Training, The Creative Lab to attract and develop Arabic and international talent, Roya Talents and a production arm which comes with both kit and professional crew to provide cost-effective production services and technical expertise.

Front Row and beIN Media Group renew deal BeIN Media Group has renewed its multi-year agreement with indie film distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment, securing first pay and subscription video on demand (SVOD) windows for independent feature films across the region. The agreement will see all of Front Row’s Englishlanguage feature films premiere exclusively in MENA on BeIN’s movie channels and beIN Connect.

Mohammad Al-Subaie,

acting CEO of beIN MENA, said: “This partnership renewal is a testament to our commitment to offer a complete spectrum of entertainment programmes through valuable entities such as Front Row Filmed Entertainment, who continue to innovate in an ever-changing entertainment landscape.”

Front Row Filmed Entertainment acquires over 100 feature films a year, as well as TV series.

PRONEWS

NBCUniversal Formats’ Celebrity Game Face to launch on Abu Dhabi TV NBCUniversal Formats, a division of Universal Studio Group, has signed a deal to feature the local version of hit comedy game show Celebrity Game Face in the Middle East. The show launched on February 17 on Abu Dhabi TV and the ADtv app, part of Abu Dhabi Media (ADM).

The show is being produced by In Media Plus (The X Factor, Arab Idol) and is hosted by Egyptian comedian Shaimaa Seif.

The 13-part series sees local celebrities from all over the MENA region take part in a variety of trivia games

Images from Celebrity Game Face.

and physical challenges.

Ana Langenberg, SVP, Format Sales & Production, NBCUniversal Formats, said: “With a formidable host and rich ensemble of celebrity guests, we look forward to introducing what

Discovery and Intigral enter a new partnership for discovery+ Discovery and Intigral have announced a longterm partnership for the provision of broadcast and SVoD content on Intigral’s flagship OTT service, Jawwy TV. Through this agreement, Jawwy TV subscribers will have access to select Discovery content in a discovery+ branded area on Jawwy TV. New and existing Jawwy TV subscribers who sign up will be offered 12 months of access to discovery+ content on Intigral.

Jawwy TV subscribers will also receive seven of Discovery’s international linear channels:

Discovery Channel, Fatafeat, TLC, Discovery Family, Animal Planet, Discovery Science and Investigation Discovery.

Once available in the region, both entities will collaborate to make the discovery+ app available to the STC’s mobile customer base in KSA, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Kasia Kieli, President and MD of Discovery EMEA said: “We are delighted to enter this new partnership with the leading telco operator in Saudi Arabia and combine our strengths to provide customers access to our content on discovery+.

we hope will be a welcomed hit for local audiences.

This deal, alongside the recent commission of our format Drive ThruOke in Saudi Arabia, are testament to the dynamism of the MENA region and

appetite for more universal entertainment content.”

Juma Al Houti, acting Executive Director – TV, Abu Dhabi Media, said: “We are committed to bringing together global expertise and local insight to create programmes our viewers can’t do without – and Celebrity Game Face is a perfect example. We are excited to work with NBCUniversal Formats in pioneering the first international version of this show. Celebrity Game Face promises to be a must-watch show across broadcast and digital channels.”

UFC and TikTok announce sports content partnership UFC and TikTok have signed a multi-year partnership that will see UFC produce live content on TikTok. Among the highlights, the two organisations will collaborate to produce new weekly shows on TikTok, featuring live looks at weigh-ins and press conferences, athlete interviews, arena tours, fighter training segments and more. Each show will be programmed around an upcoming UFC live event to drive awareness, providing fans with an exciting, unique way to experience UFC on TikTok while they prepare for UFC’s biggest events.

TikTok claims to have more than 100m users in the US. UFC has more than 7m

David Shaw, UFC Senior VP of International and Content.

followers across its official channels. Videos using #UFC have been viewed over 8bn times since 2019.

“This partnership with TikTok is a tremendous addition to UFC’s content distribution ecosystem,” said David Shaw, UFC Senior Vice President of International and Content.

March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 9

PRONEWS

PlayBox Neo powers playout system upgrade and expansion at TBN Africa PlayBox Neo has completed a system upgrade and expansion at the Johannesburg studios of TBN Africa, part of Trinity Broadcast Network, a major religious television network.

TBN Africa’s playout system is based on AirBox servers, which provide the freedom to pre-schedule in advance of transmission while retaining the ability to over-ride with live content whenever required. Upgrading to the latest-generation AirBox Neo-20 makes the workflow even more efficient, including full support for HD and the

potential to playout in UHD. Jonathan Sack, Pro Sales Broadcast Managing Director, said: “The expanded PlayBox Neo system at TBN Africa includes a new fully redundant playout channel comprising two AirBox Neo-20 servers. A special requirement for this project was the need to configure the playout servers to convert SCTE 104 insertion cues to the SCTE 35 protocol. This was handled as a software process and integrated closely with the PlayBox Neo platform.

“Each server incorporates

Nigerian streaming service launches on Red Bee OTT platform OyaWatch TV, a new Nigerian subscription-based streaming service, launched last month through Red Bee Media’s OTT platform.

The service includes a wide variety of live and on-demand content from the big international

broadcasters and local sources, distributed through Red Bee’s Channel Store offering.

OyaWatch TV is available through apps and browsers on all major devices and smart TVs, with multiple language options.

10 | www.broadcastprome.com | March 2021

TitleBox Neo-20 graphics preparation software and a SafeBox Neo transfer engine.

New content arriving in any of the source watch-folders is automatically copied by SafeBox Neo for secure pre-transmission. Content, playlist, CG templates, subtitle list and metadata files are held in relevant folders for final manipulation and then actual delivery. An automatic failover switch constantly monitors the primary server output and selects the secondary server if a significant fault is detected.

“Both servers are

connected to a ListBox Neo20 preparation workstation which provides all the facilities needed for schedule creation and playlist editing.

The result is low stress or in fact no stress.”

Pavlin Rahnev, CEO of PlayBox Neo, added: “Customer continuity is always a healthy sign that we have the right solutions to support our user base.

TBN has proved a highly professional partner over the years, and we are pleased to be assisting both its established and expanding operations.”

Zee launches Indian Pro Music League Zee launched its first-ever music league, the Indian Pro Music League, last month. Six teams representing different regions of India battle it out in a musical championship. Similar to the format of a sports league, the show has five innings comprising the league matches and a super match, where audience votes and umpire points will decide the outcome of the league and declare one of the teams league champion. The show, comprising 25 episodes, premiered on February 26 and will conclude with a grand finale on May 22.

Aparna Bhosle, Business Head, Zee TV, said: “Over the years, we’ve seen how league formats have become immensely popular among sports viewers, and as a country where cricket is nothing short of a religion, audiences at large have embraced and internalised this exciting format. With the Indian

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has been roped in as one of the ambassadors of the show.

Pro Music League, the idea is to infuse the space of music reality television with the same energy and competitive spirit that is typical of a sports league. The quotient of excitement and anticipation is enhanced by top Bollywood stars and sports celebrities owning the six teams that will compete in the championship.”

PRONEWS

Moroccan news agency chooses AETA Maghreb Arabe Press (MAP) is now delivering timely information to its audience through the press agency’s newly launched radio service, Radio de l’Information Marocaine (RIM), put in place by audio and IP codecs major AETA Audio Systems. Based in Rabat, MAP provides official news services in Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Tamazight.

In order to offer RIM listeners a constant flow of up-to-the-minute information, MAP shopped for a reliable system that could record and deliver live stream audio programmes in broadcast quality. The organisation selected AETA equipment because of its ability to deliver RTC, ISDN, ADSL and 3G/4G connectivity at a competitive price.

Casablanca-based systems integrator PHF COM Morocco managed the sale and is providing staff training.

PHF Managing Director Younes Yamouni explained that the station was searching for an easy-to-use mobile solution for its roving reporters, and AETA, a reference in the remote broadcast world, was the obvious choice.

In January, PHF delivered two AETA Scoopy+ S codecs, one Scoop5 S codec and five D021B LEM mics to MAP for use in coverage of remote events.

AETA GM Yann Vonarburg noted that

both Scoopy+ S and Scoop5 S codecs are trustworthy in the field in terms of connections and staff safety. “Our entire Scoop range of audio and IP codecs are adaptable to fit broadcasters’ various needs. Thanks to a simple and intuitive interface, reporters can focus on their broadcast without having to fuss over configuring the unit.”

AETA recently introduced dual mobile connectivity for the Scoopy+ S codec, and also enhanced the unit’s double streaming capabilities and bonding functionalities. Dual mobile network connectivity with double streaming and bonding options gives presenters full mobility and audio reliability, allowing them to concentrate on the broadcast and contribute from almost anywhere. This makes remotes easier in terms of logistics and streamlines the tech crew’s task of preparing the system for its presenters.

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March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 11

PRONEWS

Asharq News offers vertical streaming with Wildmoka Asharq News has launched a mobile vertical live streaming format based on artificial intelligence.

Through its partnership with French tech company Wildmoka, Asharq News now leverages the Auto ReZone solution, which uses AI and machine learning to enable automatic, 24/7, real-time transformation of horizontal layouts into vertical.

Steven Cheak, Creative Services and Digital Director at Asharq News, commented: “With this breakthrough solution, we can finally resolve

the challenge that has puzzled news broadcasters for years – despite smartphones becoming the primary channels for news consumption, news broadcasters continue to live stream horizontally, something Asharq News have overcome.”

Asharq News announced that phase one of the vertical streaming was deployed in February 2021 across Asharq News websites, while phase two will extend the solution across Asharq News apps and Asharq NOW for video on demand.

KSA entities Muvi Cinemas and Telfaz11 partner Muvi Cinemas has signed a deal with Telfaz11 to grow filmmaking in the region.

Muvi Cinemas CEO Sultan Alhokair said: “The need for a strong local-language film market with a theatrical window has never been stronger, with the annual box office projected to exceed

$1bn annually by 2030.

Studios such as Telfaz11 are strongly placed to be market leaders, given that Saudi Arabia’s cinema industry is similar to those of France, Italy and Germany, insofar as local-language content accounts for over 40% of annual box-office revenue.

A file photo of the Telfaz11 team.

12 | www.broadcastprome.com | March 2021

“Additionally, Telfaz11’s expertise in creative content creation and audience growth will be invaluable to the Muvi brand as we seek to increase our reach to 610 movie screens across 60 cinemas by the year 2025.”

Telfaz11 CEO Alaa Fadan added: “Saudi Arabia is making tremendous advancements within the entertainment community, both with what we produce and how we reach audiences.

It has long been our goal to ensure all Saudis get to experience the magic of movies in theatres, and this deal with our friends at Muvi only furthers Telfaz11’s mandate to have a hand in our country’s cultural growth in the film and media business.”

Israeli broadcaster selects Kaltura Israeli broadcaster Reshet 13 has selected Kaltura to upgrade its direct-toconsumer video service.

Reshet 13 broadcasts commercial television on Channel 13 with a range of entertainment via its digital platform. It will benefit from Kaltura’s advanced video technology and hosting on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Kaltura carried out the technology migration and implemented its platform for Reshet 13, including bespoke player plug-ins for client-side dynamic ad insertion (DAI), integration with Google Ad Manager, and analytics and audience measurement capability. The solution includes integration with AWS for delivery of live linear channels and CloudFront CDN. The migration went live at the end of September 2020, just six weeks after contract. As part of the large, ambitious project, Kaltura seamlessly migrated over 170,000 content assets to the new platform.

A key objective for Reshet 13 was timely delivery in order to support the live broadcast of its Big Brother show. Reshet 13 provides a premium Big Brother Channel which broadcasts for several months each year. Kaltura developed a bespoke solution which enabled Reshet 13 to monetise the web live streaming of its Big Brother 2020 service through personalised, client-side ads.

PRONEWS

IBC announces plans for 2021 event IBC has revealed plans to deliver a hybrid physical and digital event on September 10-13, 2021, as well as a fallback option for 3-6 December.

Michael Crimp, Chief Executive of IBC, said: “IBC Show 2021 aims to help the industry to re-engage after a very challenging year. We have a deep sense of purpose and focus on being the catalyst for the industry to come back from the pandemic – and as always, to create an event that is ‘by the industry, for the industry’. Our priority is to get back to doing business in a way that keeps everyone safe.

“We want to be transparent

IBC has tentatively reserved dates in December should the September event not take place.

and fair with everyone, and that’s why we are making our plans for this year clear now. We are all navigating the complexities of a global pandemic. While we are optimistic about the return of a live show this year, we are also realistic about the

Viu announces more new Korean dramas for Feb and March Following the premiere of Korean drama River Where the Moon Rises on Viu earlier last month, the streaming service has announced a larger line-up of Korean content for February and March, featuring 11 drama series: The Penthouse 2, Times, Mouse,

L.U.C.A.: The Beginning, Dear. M, Great Real Estate, Summer Guys, Love Scene Number, Breakup Probation, A Week and Beyond Evil.

Viu recently hit 45m MAU and 5.3m paid subscribers and has the most users in Southeast Asia, according to MPA.

hurdles we need to overcome and are closely tracking the macro factors that will impact people’s ability and willingness to return to mass gatherings.”

IBC has put in place plans to address different scenarios and has agreed with the RAI and IBC stakeholders to

move the show to December if needed. The decision on whether the show will take place in September or move to December 3-6 will be announced between the end of May and the beginning of June, ensuring exhibitors and attendees have enough time to adjust their plans accordingly and minimise cost and disruption.

Crimp added: “IBC 2021 will not be on the same scale as the 2019 event.

We anticipate a drop-off in long-haul travel. However, we believe there will be a strong attendance from IBC’s core European audience.”

StarzPlay partners with TV Tokyo StarzPlay has signed a multi-year agreement with Japanese anime provider TV Tokyo Corporation that will give subscribers access to new weekly episodes of Naruto on a simulcast basis.

StarzPlay also has the rights to season 3 of Fruits Basket, scheduled to air in April.

Speaking about the partnership, Maaz Sheikh, co-founder and CEO of StarzPlay, said: “Over the last few years, the region has witnessed increased demand for anime, and we are bringing nothing but the best of content that anime fans in the region will love.”

Yukio Kawasaki, Director, TV Tokyo Corporation, added: “One of our differentiating strengths is the extensive line-up of anime series that we distribute, several of them having gained cult status and contributed to

StarzPlay will bring an extensive line-up of anime series to its platform through this partnership.

the global popularity of the genre. Through our strong ties with StarzPlay, we are delighted to offer our diverse suite of anime series for viewers in MENA, including our flagship franchise Naruto and upcoming culminating season of the popular series Fruits Basket: The Final. This will boost the popularity of anime in the region, especially among youth and families.”

March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 13

PRONEWS

MENA media firms appoint Choueiri Group as ad sales representative Three different media houses have signed up with Choueiri Group to serve as their ad media sales representative.

Rotana Audio Visual LLC, a major production company in Saudi Arabia, has appointed Choueiri Group’s Digital Media Services (DMS) – Saudi Arabia to handle exclusive advertising sales for Rotana Audio and Video, as well as Rotana FM in the Middle East and Turkey.

The partnership includes all content from Rotana

FM radio station, as well as the production services of Rotana Audio and Video, which comprises concerts and the filming of video clips, as well as the Fannbox app.

Likewise, Trenta for Art Production and Distribution, owner of Egypt’s Al-Nahar TV Network, has appointed C-Media of Choueiri Group as the exclusive media representatives for Al-Nahar TV (General Entertainment Channel) and Al-Nahar

Spacetoon partners with Moonbug Entertainment on CoComelon

Spacetoon has partnered with Moonbug Entertainment to bring CoComelon, along with five additional Moonbug titles, to MENA. The show recently exceeded 100m subscribers on YouTube and spent over 130 days on Netflix’s Top 10 in the US. Families in the region will be able to access six of Moonbug’s biggest shows via Spacetoon’s free-to-air TV channel and

its Spacetoon Go online streaming service.

The titles will be localised and dubbed into Arabic, categorised in two types: dialogue and non-dialogue shows. In addition to exclusive broadcasting and streaming rights to Arabic content in the region for the trending kids’ content, Spacetoon is the MENA master licensee of CoComelon.

14 | www.broadcastprome.com | March 2021

Drama (Series Channel).

The tie-up grants C-Media the exclusive rights for commercial advertising sales and marketing for both satellite TV channels within Egypt and across the Middle East. As part of Choueiri Group, C-Media’s remit will be focused on broadening the scope for exceptional advertising and marketing opportunities across both platforms.

In addition, Abu Dhabi

Media (ADM) has appointed Media Sat, a Choueiri Group company, to handle advertising sales for its general entertainment TV channels, radio, digital and publishing across the MENA region and beyond.

The long-term agreement is aimed at strengthening Abu Dhabi Media’s position as a major media player, providing a wider reach to advertisers across a broad range of markets.

Tollywood actor Mahesh Babu shoots new film in Dubai’s in5 Media in5 Media in Dubai Production City was transformed into a key location for an upcoming blockbuster starring Telegu superstar Mahesh Babu.

For two days last month, the actor was seen filming at various in5 facilities for his latest movie.

Majed Al Suwaidi, Managing Director of Dubai Production City and Head of in5, said: “With strict adherence to the latest government precautionary measures and guidelines, we were delighted to host Mahesh Babu and his entire film crew at the in5 Media centre in Dubai Production City. Offering state-of-the-art facilities ideal for both small and large productions, in5 is a fantastic destination located in the heart of the

emirate’s media production ecosystem. We encourage more filmmakers and content creators to tap into the UAE’s state-of-the-art infrastructure, production facilities and unique locations to create engaging stories and great movies.”

Mahesh Babu was at in5 last month for the shoot.

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PROSUMMIT

BROADCASTPRO SUMMIT: TAKING IT ONE STEP AT A TIME

Industry professionals in the MENA region gathered at the 10th annual ASBU BroadcastPro Summit to discuss the impact of the pandemic on their respective media businesses, the disruptive forces in the market place and their own success stories 16 | www.broadcastprome.com | March 2021

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STREAMING COMES UP TOPS IN PANDEMIC

Covid-19 brought the world to a standstill and forced people to stay at home, resulting in an accelerated demand for online entertainment. The OTT Leaders’ Panel brought together panellists who represented three services with fairly differentiated streaming products to explore some of the emerging market trends within streaming, how the services fared during the pandemic and measures undertaken to retain subscribers

AMANDA TURNBULL AS SOCIATES

Amanda Turnbull

INTIGR AL

John-Paul McKerlie

The global pandemic changed the face of entertainment forever, pushing streaming platforms into the foreground and compelling OTT services to speed up infrastructural upgrades and content investments that were potentially relegated to the background.

The keynote panel at the ASBU BroadcastPro 2020 summit, moderated by Amanda Turnbull with panellists John-Paul McKerlie, Chief Commercial Officer, Intigral; Zahra Zayat, Senior Vice President – Digital, OTT & Telco, OSN; and Olivier Sage, Chief Revenue Officer, MBC Group, discussed the impact of Covid-19 on entertainment, to what extent their numbers surged during the lockdown and strategies to retain the windfall of subscribers they had amassed.

Olivier Sage commented that while OTT is just another distribution platform among the many that MBC Group

MBC GROUP

Olivier Sage

OSN

Zahra Zayat

has, it has provided the network with the opportunity to reach out to viewers beyond the region, especially with its recent launch in the US. Although a latecomer to the SVOD business, having launched its premium streaming service Shahid VIP only in January 2020, the strategy worked in MBC’s favour during the lockdown, with numbers surging.

“MBC has all aspects of the value chain to keep our subscribers and viewers in the same ecosystem, whether it is through linear, SVOD or AVOD. But Shahid VIP enables us to have a D2C relationship, which is enhanced beyond the linear,” Sage elaborated.

“The SVOD business helped MBC diversify its revenue streams from ad sales. This year, in the first five months, we grew ten times our subscriber base; but more importantly, we saw greater engagement throughout the year. We have seen a

March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 17

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couple of million minutes spent daily on our app, and the engagement has been continuous rather than just during Ramadan. This has reduced our churn rate and we are well within the global benchmarks.”

Pay-TV network OSN has a finger in both the traditional DTH and the OTT pies, and also had some impressive numbers to share.

“We launched our new branding, our new platform and our online partnership with Disney at just the right time. The stars were all lined up for us,” commented Zahra Zayat.

She also noted that the lockdown led to a dramatic increase in credit card usage on e-commerce platforms and OTT services, and that was good news for OSN. “We want to acquire customers on credit cards, as it is cheaper for us and they tend to stay longer.”

The lockdown also meant “more customers started to watch OTT on big screens, meaning they stay longer, and are more engaged”, she added.

Like the other two streaming services, Jawwy TV also had a successful run last year with its

“As research has shown, if you win the large screen, you win the volume. So we brought smart TV apps on Jawwy towards the end of last year” John-Paul McKerlie, Chief Commercial Officer, Intigral partnerships, the launch of several original productions and, more recently, its availability on big screens.

“Covid did three things,” McKerlie commented.

“It disrupted production during Ramadan and a lot of content was at risk of not being produced. In parallel, at Intigral and Jawwy TV, we had different things happen in different segments during Covid. We witnessed massive growth rates in OTT with lots of people signing up and looking for things to

Each of the panellists represented a streaming business that saw exceptional growth in subscriptions during the pandemic.

18 | www.broadcastprome.com | March 2021

watch. On the home segment, there was huge consumption but volumes didn’t increase much in terms of sales because sales wasn’t operational during the lockdown. In fact, we had to turn off streams to ensure people were not just leaving the box on just in case someone was keeping their box running 24/7, especially during Ramadan when people tend to keep the devotional channels on.”

A spike in numbers does not mean the road to OTT has been smooth and seamless. These platforms must retain their new subscribers. Zayat says the secret is to think of an OTT product as an e-commerce platform.

“Unless you think e-commerce, you can’t run a successful OTT business. This is the strategic change we have made within the company. We separated the OTT and digital thinking from the rest of the business. We started thinking OTT and fintech, and to acquire customers differently and take them to a deeper level of engagement by delivering unique personalisation through AI and other technologies.”

She admitted, however,

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that “maintaining this level of engagement is not easy”.

“People became more sophisticated during the lockdown and started stacking multiple OTTs and moving from one platform to the other. People will stay on your platform as long as there is interesting content, and you have a time span of two weeks to hook them to new content or they will go to other platforms … until you manage to bring them back.”

When asked about consumption and average viewing hours, Intigral’s McKerlie pointed out that Jawwy TV recently ensured that its app was available on smart TVs. “As research has shown, if you win the large screen, you win the volume.

So we brought smart TV apps on Jawwy towards the end of last year.

The real question is, how many hours do people watch a month, and how many of those hours will you win?

“If you take Netflix as a case study, something like 60-70% of consumption is on smart TV and smart TV penetration is 30% or more in a household, so you can work out your average and see how quickly you can get into that space.

We have the set-top box and the operator’s advantage, so when you turn on the STB, you often start us up. Our hours are some of the highest you have ever seen in the world and yet we saw a massive increase – and then we had Ramadan, which gave it a further boost.”

He also agreed with Zayat that a streaming service needs to continuously add new content to its portfolio, to keep existing subscribers coming back for more.

“At the end of last year, we ensured we had some major releases every two to three months because, as Zahra rightly pointed out, you release something interesting and you have to run that cycle again every two months to keep those subscribers hooked.”

This led the panel to explore their

content strategy in greater detail.

Turnbull pointed out that the general perception in the region is that Arabic content drives volume, and in MBC’s case ad revenue, while Western content drives higher ARPU. She asked the panellists to elaborate on their content philosophy and the strategies they were adopting in terms of dropping content and

“We separated the OTT and digital thinking from the rest of the business. We started thinking OTT and fintech, and to acquire customers differently and take them to a deeper level of engagement” Zahra Zayat, Senior Vice President – Digital, OTT & Telco, OSN

windowing, querying: “How do you get the most value from that?”

Sage asserted that MBC Group is looking to engage its customers throughout the year in 2021, and not just during Ramadan, as is the wont of regional media houses.

“MBC is no longer relying only on Ramadan; every month is Ramadan for us. In terms of growth, positioning and consumer engagement, it has been a strong journey. We have worked on creating a catalogue with our 40 exclusive originals and a strong line-up of content for this region. In addition, we launched our app in English to address the diaspora outside the region. Essentially, we want to be part of people’s daily entertainment experience, and not just during Covid. We also wanted to make that transition to subscription and revenue. We have seen an incredible uptake with the revenue,” he said.

He also shared that MBC had significant audiences for both scripted and non-scripted content, and was continuously innovating on the content front. For instance, MBC’s recent investment in the Arab world’s first soap opera, Al Mirath, in conjunction with Image Nation Abu Dhabi and twofour54, had a huge impact in the market.

“Content-wise, we are doing productions in the UAE, Saudi, Egypt and Lebanon. We are very present in the region and it is in our DNA. There is also the value of the

March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 19

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content, and where and at what stage the consumers pay. This is all part of the value proposition. Previously, Arabic content drove advertising and this helped us create more locally focused channels like MBC Masr, Morocco and Iraq, etc, with content that was relevant to each region.”

He pointed out that the current order of windowing is SVOD with Shahid VIP, followed by a screening on the MBC Group linear channels, and finally as catch-up on its AVOD platform.

“This is how we are monetising our content and driving up our subscription together with establishing our content on different platforms. This is the strength of MBC … that we are able to diversify our revenues and maximise the value of our content. We essentially keep the content within our ecosystem, and by monetising the content that we are producing, we invest it back into our content.”

OSN’s Zayat, however, said the broadcaster does not go by regional perceptions, but by data.

“Today, the MENA market is hugely fragmented and so is the content and the population. What works in the UAE does not necessarily work in Saudi Arabia,” she explained.

“In the UAE, if you depend only on Arabic content, you will not drive paid acquisitions. But in Saudi Arabia, an ad on any social media acquisition channels in the local language drives bigger reach. The

numbers on that ad will go up if the wording is in Arabic. But the conversion to paid customers is a lot less.

“By comparison, premium Hollywood content is what propels our paid subscriptions. However, to drive engagement in a place like Saudi Arabia, we have to go with Arabic.

So Arabic will drive consumption on the platform and engagement, but

“The SVOD business helped MBC diversify its revenue streams from ad sales. This year, in the first five months, we grew ten times our subscriber base; but more importantly, we saw greater engagement throughout the year” Olivier Sage, Chief Revenue Officer, MBC Group

20 | www.broadcastprome.com | March 2021

monetising that is challenging.”

She also pointed out that while Arabic is mainstream in Saudi Arabia, historically driving a lot of ad sales and revenue, she does not see that as the way forward. “Most companies today prefer to advertise on social media platforms, as they offer tracking, visibility and better segmentation and analytics for advertisers to target their consumers.

So I don’t see a future in that.”

She also remarked that OTT is all about “binge watching”, and “dropping an episode every week may not be an ideal experience for a customer”. But she agreed that streamers should potentially explore monetisation avenues other than subscription.

“Premium Hollywood content costs a lot of money and OTT subscription is now selling at $10. That is really cheap. When the content cost is your biggest cost on your P&L, you need to look at initiatives to uplift your P&L, because break-even becomes really difficult otherwise. So we have to maintain the premium Hollywood content, but stacking other OTTs on top of your basic package becomes increasingly important. Perhaps offering everything as part of one platform is the answer, as it helps lift your ARPU but also positions you as a one-stop shop for entertainment,” she commented, adding that content like gaming, esports and music should be part of the mix.

McKerlie reckoned that the reason acquisition has been driven

by Hollywood content is because “of the way distribution allowed for it … You went to the movies and paid $10 for Mission: Impossible, so you have that perception”.

He agreed with Zayat that the way forward was to have a mixed proposition, which Jawwy currently offers as a super aggregator.

“In the VOD landscape, most of the parties have one content proposition. You buy a subscription to Netflix or Amazon Prime, and

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you get just that. In our landscape, we offer these other bits as well – sports rights, potentially music platforms, and all sorts of add-ons.”

He also pointed out that “content creation is critical, but it is not our bread and butter. Distribution is”.

“The analogy I like to use is of a restaurant. You don’t want to see 300 items on the menu. The most preferred path for a consumer is the express lunch, a starter, main and dessert. Setting that up is different from an operator perspective or content provider perspective.

Secondly, you have things to ask yourself – like do you want to give your audience all the content at once to binge watch, or does it make sense to drop one episode every week?”

Sage said MBC drops a few episodes at a time to allow for binge watching, but during Ramadan, the broadcaster drops one episode daily. All panellists agreed that they follow a mixed strategy of offering some content for bingeing and some for daily viewing.

Turnbull then steered the discussion to payment schedules

“People will stay on your platform as long as there is interesting content, and you have a time span of two weeks to hook them to new content or they will go to other platforms … until you manage to bring them back” Zahra Zayat, Senior Vice President – Digital, OTT & Telco, OSN and billing. The panellists agreed that this is a major challenge in a region with very low credit card penetration, describing it as a work in progress.

Sage said that MBC works with four providers in the region, and McKerlie said that most Jawwy TV subscribers use mobile phone payments.

He noted that the issue emerging with Apple and Google is two-fold. Firstly, the new app store rules mean customers must use in-app purchase methods.

“This creates issues, as payment technologies are traditionally not designed to offer more than one payment method per subscription.

In practical terms, this means that in

many instances, a multi-optioned proposition cannot be managed from within the mobile application.”

He also pointed out that with Apple and Google eating into the payment pie and credit cards shaving off a 1-3% charge, this was a growing challenge.

“There is just not enough space for that kind of margin in such a competitive market. There has to be more collaboration,” he remarked.

Zayat said there is another level of complication “with the prepaid mobile and post-paid mobile payments, in a market dominated by prepaid. Prepaid customers churn a lot. Post-paid subscribers tend to be more stable. In some markets, credit card penetration is as low as 10%. KSA is significantly better in terms of ARPU, but there are many prepaid mobile users on telco services that make payment collections very challenging.”

The panellists finished up by agreeing that the current goal of all streaming services is to drive the maximum number of customers who will stay with their service longer. PRO

The OTT panel concluded with each panellist agreeing that more needed to be done in terms of content additions, recommendations and engagements, to retain the volume of subscribers that flooded their platforms during the pandemic.

March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 21

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BACK TO THE FUTURE

With no handbook on how to get through a long-term lockdown, CTOs had to come up with quick measures to ensure seamless business continuity while also undertaking infrastructural upgrades to keep up with the subscriber rush on OTT services.

The Tech Leaders’ Panel discussed the challenges they face, and the technologies that may lead their services into the future

DELEEL T V

Robert Lakos

SHAHID

Adriaan Bloem

The BroadcastPro Summit brought together people who have worked equally successfully in both the linear TV and streaming ecosystems. This made for some interesting conversations on content search, discoverability and using technology to differentiate services, as well as predictions. The pandemic affected their organisations differently, depending on the status of their infrastructure or project timelines.

Sponsored by Diversified and moderated by Robert Lakos, CEO of Deleel TV, the panel consisted of Adriaan Bloem, Head of Digital Infrastructure, Shahid; Peter Riz, CTO, OSN; and Suhail Ahmed, CEO, One Diversified FZ LLC. Diversified’s Suhail Ahmed commented that he was in the midst of a major upgrade in Dubai when the lockdown hit.

While the logistics of getting equipment into the country were challenging, he said it forced the company “to expedite some of the plans we had of digitising internally”.

Peter Riz said that OSN immediately scaled up some of its streaming infrastructure, but the biggest challenge was managing operations, with different teams working remotely.

22 | www.broadcastprome.com | March 2021

OSN

Peter Riz

ONE DIVERSIFIED F Z LLC

Suhail Ahmed

MBC Group was lucky, as it had just relaunched its premium SVOD service Shahid VIP in January 2020, and throughout the year its subscriber base has grown over tenfold – with steady growth recorded throughout the entirety of 2020 thanks, in part, to the lockdown.

“We were right in position, at the right moment, with having this completely revamped service app,” commented Bloem. “In November, Shahid VIP became available worldwide, and witnessed a 60% increase in uptake in the US and Canada as well.”

One of the biggest challenges that streaming services face worldwide is the lack of good internet connectivity, Bloem pointed out. “Satellite TV is going to be very strong in this region for a very long time, mostly because people outside of the large metropolitan areas still have very bad internet connectivity. People don’t care whether they are watching linear or streaming content. They expect the same quality.”

He cited the example of a customer in a remote village in Lebanon who complained that the video quality on Shahid was terrible.

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“We looked up his analytics and discovered that he was in a small mountain village in Lebanon, on a mobile connection that was not even 3G. People don’t necessarily know that this is very hard to achieve.

As far as they are concerned, if the satellite TV just works, the app must also just work – like magic. They don’t realise that we have to do a lot of things to deliver the same high quality as satellite TV. For example, in the UAE, delivering video streams is not a problem but it’s a different story in Egypt, Iraq, or North Africa, who are mainly still being served by CDNs in Europe. We are working on changing that and ensuring that to get content locally, they are served locally. But to do that, we have to work with five different CDNs, two different cloud providers, and then build our own CDN for key telcos.”

Riz agreed with Bloem, adding that there are significant cost differences between satellite and streaming.

“In your satellite business, it’s pretty much about fixed costs, so you can plan almost everything. For years, you control the device because you usually distribute your set-top box, so

“Whether we supply news, sports or entertainment, data has to be at its core...

It has to be there from day one when you conceptualise your digital offerings” Suhail Ahmed, CEO, One Diversified FZ LLC it is relatively easy to create very detailed plans about your cost and cash flow.

“In the streaming business, you still have a huge fixed cost. If you want to deploy your own CDN server and servers to your network, that’s an added cost.

The development of your application itself is a huge fixed cost. It doesn’t matter if you develop your own or you customise it with your partner; it’s still a massive cost. And the usage is another addition to that. I think every company that moves from the broadcast

mindset to the OTT streaming mindset should understand this.”

Riz, however, felt that the lack of good connectivity in countries like Iraq and Egypt could lead to stronger adoption of 5G. “I have big expectations of 5G in markets that have low internet connectivity, because it will be easier for them to jump to the next stage.

The technology is ready; the telcos are eager to deploy this and these countries don’t have the legacy costs.

So, they can jump directly to 5G.” Ahmed pointed out, however, that even if satellite has a strong following, digital offerings will continue to gain traction.

“In our customer discussions, most wanted to know if they could spin off into an app in six weeks. You get a lot more real-time and instant data with streaming than you can ever get from a linear satellite offering. That gives companies clear insights to pivot and monetise, which on a traditional satellite offering is not possible.

“Coming to our region, I think we will continue seeing a mix of satellite and digital. If it’s news, they would want satellite which

The panel commented that streaming services are currently attempting to offer the image quality that viewers are accustomed to seeing on a linear service.

March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 23

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could reach audiences which are not privy to good internet. But streaming will be the obvious choice for most other entertainment.”

However, he noted that one of the big failings in the production world is the lack of support for the Arabic language within the entire content ecosystem.

“Having talked to different production houses in LA and the Middle East, we realised there is a deficiency of production tools that can give an end-to-end support for Arabic.

You can type in Arabic on some of the scriptwriting tools, but then you cannot take that metadata from the script stage to pre-production and all the way to the end of the final product.

“Adobe had such a scriptwriting tool but killed it in 2018. Had they known a pandemic was coming, I’m sure they would have kept it.

One of the things that I would want to instigate with the big players/ manufacturers in our industry is to start looking into this segment, because if they don’t, the only other way around it is through ML and AI.” Bloem had a different opinion on Arabic support.

“For instance, you would think

“So increasingly in the next five years ... I think we will be breaking down walls between what is AVoD, SVoD and TVoD, and between what’s linear and what’s on demand and what’s live, because to users that’s not really relevant anymore” Adriaan Bloem, Head of Digital Infrastructure, Shahid you could simply flip the entire interface from right to left but a lot of users don’t necessarily expect you to do that. They are so used to all of these Western webpages in English, that if the logo is in the top left and the search is in the top right and the carousel is going in a certain direction, they will expect this on the other pages as well,” he added.

Lakos then steered the discussion towards A/B testing and asked where the panellists stood on this.

Bloem described A/B testing as “the best way to really explore what users really think about different aspects of a service, instead of guessing …

We’ve looked at this for years now, but

This is the first panel that brought together senior tech executives who have straddled both linear and streaming ecosystems as part of their roles.

24 | www.broadcastprome.com | March 2021

our basic problem is that a lot of the out-of-the-box tools available for A/B testing at our kind of scale are way too expensive.”

“I recall having a big debate with our UX guys about sending out an email with posters of movies, and whether or not we should put a play button on those posters. We ran it as an experiment, and the version with the play button had about 80% more people clicking on those posters than the one that didn’t, because it was a clear call to action.

“To do this at our scale on our AVOD service, we really need to build it into the platform. That needs to be part of your entire backend system and the apps, to be able to run variants of everything. That is going to be part of everything we do over the next few years. I’m sure we will find a lot of counterintuitive things over time.”

Riz seconded this: “There are multiple elements with A/B testing to explore. So when you have a sales model and you want to improve your conversion rate, you check button placements and the colour of the buttons. When I was in HBO Europe, we changed our call-toaction button from blue to amber

PROTECH

because we realised that with amber, we had substantially more clicks.

“In this scenario, when you have something that you want to fine tune, the traditional A/B testing tool could be really useful. A/B is really useful to measure improvements. But how your product is structured and evolves is also subject to continuous A/B testing.

“You build the current streaming platforms when the user experience is really backend-driven. Many things, however, are happening on the backend – user segmentation, experience segmentation – and the applications contains less and less logic and behave as the backend dictates. In this case you are not applying A/B testing anymore, it is more like dynamic customisation of the user experience based on the behaviour of the user segment.

“I think we need to adopt this in the future, to have a single product that can behave differently based on the needs of different segments.

Your audience is very different from an age and language point of view, so their SVoD experience is different, and your product should be dynamic and personalised to address that.”

Ahmed also agreed, adding that Amazon’s retail offering revolves around A/B. “The way they test different thumbnails in real time and continuously change the interface based on real-time data is amazing, and it’s impressive that OSN and MBC are bringing some of that in-house.”

To Lakos’ query on where the industry should aim to head, Riz said:

“I think we need to adopt [dynamic customisation of the user experience] in the future, to have a single product that can behave differently based on the needs of different segments” Peter Riz, CTO, OSN “What all the companies need to learn is to have systems that give the freedom and the control to adapt to changing environments. We should accept that no one can really say what will happen tomorrow. So build something dynamic, try to move from hardware to software, try to use the cloud and edge computing in a smart way, accept that you need to move from the monolithic system to the cloud-based micro services environment, whatever you want to call it. Measure, measure, measure and improve.”

Ahmed said all businesses should aim to be data-centric.

“Whether we supply news, sports or entertainment, data has to be at its core. It cannot be an afterthought. It has to be there from day one when you conceptualise your digital offerings, and we will see some fundamental changes to the way organisations are structured across their media offerings.

Whether we get into 8K, whether we use 5G, that’s evolutionary, it will happen. But keeping data at the core and then spinning off products on top of that, I think that’s the way to go.”

Bloem commented that while Shahid is trying to improve various features, like

creating live streams with targeted advertising and subtitles that can be turned on and off, data shows that “our viewership on smart TVs has moved from 20% to 50% now”.

“The previous wisdom was that people want to watch entertainment on their mobile phones. Sure, but they also want to be able to lean back on their sofa and watch TV. I think it won’t matter to people whether they are watching on an app or on traditional TV. So increasingly in the next five years on that side of things, I think we will be breaking down walls between what is AVoD, SVoD and TVoD, and between what’s linear and what’s on demand and what’s live, because to users that’s not really relevant anymore – they just want to watch content when they want to watch it. There are different ways of achieving that. I’m looking forward to working on that.”

Riz agreed, adding that this can also be seen on the human resources side with the demarcations between technology, business and marketing being blurred.

“All the marketing systems, all the monetisation systems, all the content management and presentation systems heavily rely on technology. It is a new language to learn. I spend a lot of my time translating the technology to business and vice versa. What are the opportunities, the risks, and how can we use all of the technology?

“Everybody talks about the recommendation engine, but what does it mean? What is your content monetisation goal? What is the right type of recommendation that will fit that monetisation goal? And so on.”

In concluding statements, Ahmed reiterated that he would like to see “tools that allow for metadata to be moved from script all the way in Arabic from the scriptwriting stage to the final handover”.

Riz and Bloem both agreed that they want specialised services now, rather than end-to-end solutions. PRO

March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 25

PROSTRATEGY

FROM ADVERSITY TO PROSPERITY

During Covid-19, have some media entities had great success even outside the OTT environment? They have, as we learned during the CEO panel at the ASBU BroadcastPro Summit last month

AMANDA TURNBULL AS SOCIATES

Amanda Turnbull

ZEE ENTERTAINMENT ENTERPRISES

Manoj Mathew

The coronavirus outbreak forced some entities to turn adversity into prosperity, thanks to strategic thinking and some good fortune. Three media houses that did extremely well during the lockdown were twofour54, Finyal Media and Zee Entertainment Middle East.

Panellists Hans Fraikin, Abu Dhabi Film and TV Commissioner; Manoj Mathew, Territory Head, MENAPT at Zee Entertainment Enterprises; and Leila Hamadeh, CEO and co-founder of Finyal Media, joined us for the CEO panel, which was moderated by Amanda Turnbull, co-founder and CEO of Amanda Turnbull Associates.

Turnbull explored how the panellists fared in the wake of the pandemic and how they used the situation to accelerate their numbers during this period. They looked at some of the factors that gave digital transformation a boost, and delved into the changing face of news and entertainment in the MENA region, and the evolving dynamics within advertising.

Turnbull started with the newcomer on the scene, Finyal Media. The Dubai-based company, which put podcasts on the map in the MENA region with fictional series including Juha and The Basement, saw a steady growth of 25% month-onmonth in podcast listenership in 2020.

“It’s been a big year of growth for us,” commented Leila Hamadeh, who has previously worked with Fremantle, Etisalat

26 | www.broadcastprome.com | March 2021

FINYAL MEDIA

Leila Hamadeh

ABU DHABI FILM & T V COMMISSION

Hans Fraikin

and OSN, among others. “We are still scratching the surface in the region, but the lockdown accelerated that growth for us. On average, the completion rates on our episodes are around 90% and on our top shows, it is 98-99%. So people are hooked into the content and it’s a loyal audience.”

But success doesn’t always have to happen in a new space, as Zee Entertainment Middle East proved last year. Manoj Mathew, Territory Head, Zee Entertainment Middle East, agreed that 2020 was tough; fortunately, Zee had some things in the pipeline that came to fruition with perfect timing last year.

While Mathew celebrated the increase in subscriptions and subsequent revenue generation on the AVOD and SVOD platforms, he rued the fact that there was “a massive dip in advertising” and pointed out two new and interesting lessons that came out of Covid.

“What a CEO and CTO couldn’t do in terms of technology upgrades for companies, Covid did. Many of our technology backends were not ready to take on that increased number of subscribers and that scale of people watching at a given time. Netflix, Shahid, Amazon also faced this problem. We always sort of wait for a large number of subscribers before we invest in scaling up our technologies.

Suddenly with Covid, that became top priority.”

PROSTRATEGY

Secondly, he remarked that Covid-19 will force people to bank their content.

“In MENA, one week before Ramadan, we are still in postproduction; while in a mature international market, content that is scheduled for December will be completed, packed and sealed in good time. We will have much better content planning now. This entire region will really grow, because OTT players and video players will be creating content and banking them for such times. There will be a different level of content investment coming in. This is the opportunity I see in the immediate future.”

Turnbull asked Hans Fraikin, who took over as Abu Dhabi Film and TV Commissioner just before the pandemic, how the government entity navigated these waters.

“Part of the Film Commission’s job is to monitor what is going on globally in terms of trends, benchmarks and best/worst practices. For Abu Dhabi, the year 2020 was extremely fortunate. We were one of only four

“On average, the completion rates on our episodes are around 90% and on our top shows, it is 98-99%. So people are hooked into the content and it’s a loyal audience” Leila Hamadeh, CEO and co-founder, Finyal Media jurisdictions in the world to continue production during the pandemic.

[The Commission] had an official exemption from the government to be able to keep the production going.

“There were hundreds of millions of dollars of productions in development and in pre-development, just waiting to shoot. If you need ski slopes, Abu Dhabi is not the place. But we benefited from the pressure cooker effect, where all these productions had to spend the money because they had these deals with the distributors and had to feed the pipeline. In 2020, we reached $100m in production and that was a record for Abu Dhabi, in a pandemic year.”

He cited Inheritance, the first

Arabic-language soap opera, a major collaboration between MBC Group, twofour54 and Image Nation Abu Dhabi.

“They had started just before the pandemic and they had to adapt very quickly to the new reality. They had 250 episodes with 60 daily crew on set and they didn’t have a single outbreak. It was a success, and they have now just commissioned season two and that’s another 250 episodes.”

Turnbull commented that such collaborations have proved quite difficult in the region and asked Mathew how Zee managed similar successful collaborations, and how the firm got started on that path in the first place.

“A few years ago, we had started to experiment with Indian content,” explained Mathew. “We always go back to our home country for content pipelines, be it movies or series. Most of our content is produced in India, very few are produced here. We had done collaborations in 2016 and 2017.

“2017 is a better example. We had 13 one-hour episodes that were

Each panellist had an exceptional 2020, with Abu Dhabi amassing $100m in productions, Zee enjoying success with its Arabic adaptations and Finyal Media putting podcasts firmly on the MENA entertainment map.

March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 27

PROSTRATEGY

meant for internal consumption. At the script level, when we started the discussion we had planned halfhour edits for Zee channels, which is the traditional Indian format; but in parallel, we planned onehour weekend edits for this region, and for repeats, we went back to half-hour edits. And at the script level, we also decided to create a 90-minute telefilm out of it.

“Then we got into a partnership with the government of Ivory Coast and RTI and we created a French version and a different cut for the last four episodes, for which we flew in actors so they would blend in with the script, and we had a simulcast for both places.

“In India, our series tend to be 600 to 1,000 episodes. We moved from 600 episodes to 60-minute episodes for two seasons when we made Arabic originals. That’s how we controlled our production costs and figured out how to do both seasons in one go. This is the first year we had four releases direct to streaming, and they were all up

“For Abu Dhabi, the year 2020 was extremely fortunate. We were one of only four jurisdictions in the world to continue production during the pandemic” Hans Fraikin, Abu Dhabi Film and TV Commissioner for grabs. The first was sold to Netflix, the second to Amazon. The third we took, and the fourth we released in the theatre. So that is how we are going to look at all possible content.”

Mathew went on: “We would now like to experiment in the music space as well. We want to see if we can come out with OST [original soundtrack] forms for such series or movies we make. I plan to go ahead with Arabic movies, as there are no established studios for Arabic movies and definitely more production is on the cards. We have a fourth production happening in Cairo as we speak.”

He added that Zee first aims to

The CEO panel was testimony to the resilience some media entities showed in the face of the pandemic.

28 | www.broadcastprome.com | March 2021

sell its content before it comes to FTA and other pay windows.

“OSN has picked up our last series.

Shahid had the first run window in the OTT space, followed by Weyyak.

LBC is airing our last production.

The whole windowing model within this region has worked for us.”

He agreed that this requires a large up-front investment, with Zee currently footing 6075% of the production bill.

In the case of Finyal Media, the company has pioneered on a number of different fronts.

Besides creating its own original productions, it has also collaborated with the likes of StarzPlay around Vikings, for instance, a huge property for the streamer. Hamadeh elaborated on the company’s role.

“We do a lot of co-productions, and we create branded content on behalf of companies who own their own content. The idea in this case was to create Arabic-language series around Vikings, with all the classic characters that they have, but it was created from scratch and

PROSTRATEGY

we launched it in podcast form to sit alongside StarzPlay’s content.

“In the US, there is a lot of collaboration between audio and video companies. Podcasts sit alongside video series, but we also see podcasts that are created and turned into video content. I think a lot of broadcasters view that as a cost-effective way of trying out content and seeing if the theme generally works with audiences and sits well with that demographic before they launch into big-budget video productions. So there are a lot of cross-overs happening between video and audio.”

Fraikin said he hopes to replicate this model in Abu Dhabi.

“Hollywood has been the best in the world at taking properties from random sources and turning them into features. Marvel is the best example. We were doing this successfully in Canada, and I want to create that same success in this region … It is like a treasure hunt, where you find these gems that haven’t been exploited yet.

“You need an industry to support that kind of ambition, and a huge part of the Film Commission’s strategy is industrial-scale development, which is crew, labour and infrastructure development.

Then there are the sound stages we are going to be developing, a studio city in Abu Dhabi, a visual effects hub and so on. So as the global service production sector becomes more competitive, you are either in or out, and there is no in-between.

“Michigan is a case in point.

They were the new Hollywood of the US, but they didn’t have all the pillars and the whole house of cards crumbled. We have that perspective now and know which direction we must go and see how we can exploit a wider diversity of production content needs. Right now it would be difficult to do anything because we do not have the infrastructure depth, but once

we have the virtual production going, it will open up all sorts of opportunities.

Once we get a visual effects hub in, we will get a slice of that pie as well.”

He also pointed out that one of the reasons podcasts do so well is that audio is a low-risk production area.

“The only entities that were producing were Hollywood and Bollywood majors or the small production formats that had very low risks, like podcasts and UGC. We have a lot of Arabic production companies based in Abu Dhabi who usually do a couple of TV features a year. Now all of a sudden they were sending in six to eight requests, and they were all for OTT consumption.

“The big difference between TV and film is that in the first, you make it and then you sell it; and in the second, you sell it and then you make it.”

Turnbull also asked how decisions around content formats were made, citing The Mandalorian. Fraikin was quick to point out that “the story should dictate the format”.

“There are people who talk about $40m and $50m Arabic productions, which is usually somebody’s two-year business plan. How are you going to monetise that in a region of 20-odd countries?”

Manoj Mathew, Territory Head, MENAPT, Zee Entertainment Enterprises

“The Mandalorian was too long to be a feature unless they wanted to go the Star Wars route, but they didn’t want to take that risk and it was created for OTT production. It was a unique model in the way it was produced with virtual production.

“Major studios were pretty much the only ones producing during the pandemic, but their pipeline was also shut. So they had to release the pipeline and they needed to exploit it. They are rich, but they don’t have unlimited treasure. Who benefited? The streamers! And we saw that clearly in the deal with HBO Max.” He agreed, however, that those who produced their films for a “theatrical experience” were “deeply disappointed” at this turn of events.

The discussion then turned to the future of entertainment.

Mathew asserted that it lies in pay.

“Entertainment has to go paid.

Otherwise, we can’t sustain the level of investment it requires.

There are people who talk about $40m and $50m Arabic productions, which is usually somebody’s two-year business plan. How are you going to monetise that in a region of 20-odd countries?”

The panellists concluded by agreeing that everyone is on the look-out for original plots and ideas. Mathew urged the audience to experiment.

“We commissioned a lot of 35-40-minute films and these are taken from short stories, podcasts or contemporary theatre. And we have close to 30 movies on the app.”

Hamadeh agreed, adding that Finyal Media is increasingly identifying old and traditional stories and adapting them for a modern audience with young characters, contemporary music and modern sound effects.

“That seems to be a trend that is really taking off and bodes well for the industry,” she concluded. PRO

March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 29

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PROAWARDS

THE INDUSTRY'S SUCCESS STORIES A mix of new and established companies, as well as individuals, were feted at the 2020 ASBU BroadcastPro Awards ceremony held at the Westin Mina Seyahi, Dubai on February 2, 2021

The ASBU BroadcastPro Awards were created to recognise excellence across a range of categories critical to the media industry, from production and post to content and technical innovation across linear and OTT platforms. 2020 was intended to be special as BroadcastPro stepped into its tenth year of success. Although Covid-19 compelled us to alter our plans briefly and move our flagship event from November 2020 to February 2021, we are delighted to have successfully hosted the event last month.

This year especially saw a special focus on categories related to streaming services, with the 2020 lockdown moving OTT into the limelight. What made this year special as well as spectacular was the courage with which BroadcastPro went ahead and held its annual conference and awards ceremony while ensuring it followed all Covid guidelines set by the Dubai government. This ensured a safe environment for all

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conference and awards attendees, while also inspiring others who have wanted to host events this quarter.

This year's winners are exceptional heroes as they have survived an incredibly challenging year and emerged with some great success stories.

BroadcastPro ME has been privy to some of those stories on an exclusive basis, and we hope to cover them in greater detail in the coming months.

A big thank you to our judges this year: Hasan Sayed Hasan, MD, Master Media; Heba Korayem, Content Marketing Consultant, H Consult Media; Feten Fradi, Assistant to the Director General in charge of International Cooperation, ASBU; Rochdi Nouira, Head Engineer & Deputy Director, Tunisian Radio; Yazid Mouaki Benani, CEO of MADA PR & TV Production; Amanda Turnbull, co-founder and CEO of Amanda Turnbull Associates; and Vijaya Cherian, Editorial Director, Broadcast Division at CPI Trade Media.

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Broadcast Awards BEST T V PRODUCTION OF THE Y E AR

Al Mirath – Twofour54/MBC/ Image Nation Abu Dhabi This ambitious production, the world's first Arabic-language soap opera, involved a massive collaboration between MBC, Twofour54 and Image Nation Abu Dhabi. Within the last year, this project saw the production of 250 episodes over a period of 270 production days and helped generate over 200 jobs. Pictured from left are Elie Boghos, Head of Physical Production, Image Nation and Hassan Assiri, Consultant to MBC Studios, who received the award from Hashim Ossaily, Regional Sales Director – Middle East & Africa, Synamedia.

OUTSTANDING OT T PRODUCTION OF THE Y E AR

Alameed – Kingset and DKL Limited A hugely ambitious production and the first to emerge from a media startup, Alameed received a unanimous thumbs-up from the judges for a compelling script, an inspiring production and a strong cast that touches upon a topic that is close to the Arab world – the lives of Syrian refugees. Inspired by real-life events in Syria, the drama series was shot under challenging circumstances. The trailer screened at the awards gala was received with loud applause.

Fadi Ismail, founder of DKL Studio, received the award from Sheeraz Adil, Sales Director, Irdeto MENA.

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Broadcast Awards OUTSTANDING INDUSTRY CONTRIBUTION DURING COVID-19

7 Production The King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, headed by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, takes place annually in KSA, with 18,000 participants and more than 38,000 camels. The logistics involved in covering such an event are huge. 7 Production, which has helped shape the production of this event from its inception in 2014, brought 80 crew members and two OB vans to cover the action over 20 days for live coverage on TV channels in KSA and the UAE. With 80 people, a punishing time schedule and Covid conditions to meet, the media house pulled off a fantastic feat. Pictured is Rola Tabet, Partner and Director at 7 Production, with the award, handed over by Manoj Mathew, Territory Head – MENA, Pakistan and Turkey, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited.

BROADCASTPRO ME INNOVATIVE PROJECT OF THE Y E AR

Asharq News Most news organisations in the MENA region have pretty much followed the same formula, targeting a 40+ male audience. Asharq News, which went live in November 2020, stood out on several fronts with its bold content strategy that included female viewers and Arab youth, a state-of-the-art infrastructure that includes a full-IP setup, well-designed physical and virtual studios, a 360-degree social media ecosystem and an office culture that has embraced a large number of women and youth as part of its workforce. For its fresh ideas and bold innovations, we salute Asharq News channel. Asharq News CTO Omran Abdallah received the award from Khaled Jamal, GM, Irdeto MENA. March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 33

PROAWARDS

Broadcast Awards BEST TECH IMPLEMENTATION OF THE Y E AR

OSN OSN has made exceptional inroads this last year into the streaming business with its revamped OTT platform, offering content discoverability, playback capabilities and a seamless user experience. With a sophisticated recommendation engine that is regularly refreshed and AI technology that uses custom algorithms to offer a more personalised experience to subscribers, OSN has upped its game in the streaming business.

For successfully releasing a welldeveloped app that can stand toe to toe with global streaming services, OSN Streaming deserved this award. Pictured with the award is Peter Riz, CTO of OSN.

OT T SOLUTIONS PROVIDER OF THE Y E AR

Erstream Turkish firm Erstream is an OTT solutions provider that has built end-to-end OTT applications for several customers in the MENA region, including Roya TV, AlMamlaka TV, Jordan Radio and Television, MySatGo and VF TV. Its regional references, its proven ability to build end-to-end solutions including VOD, and its SVOD platforms for MENA customers – particularly with Arabic support and integration for most standard mobile and online devices – made it an instant winner with the judges. Pictured here is Ugur Kalaba, CEO of Erstream.

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Broadcast Awards STRE AMING SERVICE OF THE Y E AR

Jawwy TV, Intigral Jawwy TV holds an unusual place in the MENA OTT landscape as a super aggregator that has forged partnerships with most of the major streamers – OSN, MBC, StarzPlay – and a number of Arabic-language services.

Alongside this, it has unleashed a host of regional productions over the last year. For its investment in local productions, state-of-theart technology to back up the offering and a winning strategy to reach audiences, Jawwy TV took home the Streaming Service of the Year award. James Walmsley, Director - Products, Commercial, Intigral, received the award from John Illingworth, Sales Director MEA at Bitmovin.

MENA TRENDSE T TER OF THE Y E AR

Finyal Media Finyal Media has made waves in the Arab world with its podcasts. Since its launch in 2018, the Dubai-based company has seen an average monthly growth of 50%, hitting 4m downloads in December 2020. Finyal Media pioneered the launch of fictional podcasts in the Arab world, with modern adaptations of classic stories like 1001 Nights, Sindbad and Juha. More recently it launched The Basement, the Arab world’s first original scripted drama podcast series for Arabs, which was an instant hit with listeners and was named top of Apple’s Favourites of 2020 list for the Arab world. Mshari Alonaizy, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Finyal Media, received the award from Mohamed Razik Zaghlouli, Regional Sales Director at ATEME. March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 35

Date

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Strategise, play and score.

Innovation in sports broadcasting in the MENA region 23 – 24 March 2021, Online

About the

Future of Sports Broadcasting Summit Sports events came to a halt in 2020 with the onset of COVID-19 and for a while, everyone in the business was compelled to sit at home. But it also created the opportunity for many suppliers, vendors, producers, broadcasters and others to reinvent themselves and adapt. In addition, the rapid uptake of OTT also compelled content owners to rethink their rights and we are certain sports rights will be designed differently in the future.

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Discussions This event will bring together the industry’s leading minds to engage in discussions and share presentations, all of which you will be able to follow from the comfort and safety of wherever you are.

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Broadcast Awards SYSTEMS INTEGR ATOR OF THE Y E AR

Diversified Diversified walked away with the prize for its excellent work in delivering a very complex engineering project that included a major revamp of the Al Arabiya News Complex in Dubai during the lockdown. Working through a maze of legacy infrastructure to run fibre across four floors while remaining on air at all times, integrating existing infrastructure with new equipment, pulling cable only at midnight to ensure zero outage – and at the same time, executing the vision of the client for a futuristic news facility with an integrated open newsroom within seven months – was an awardwinning feat. Suhail Ahmed, CEO of One Diversified FZ LLC, received the award from Chant Utukian, Senior Sales Manager at Shure.

MOST INNOVATIVE MENA STRE AMING PL ATFORM

STARZPLAY This Editor's Choice award was given to StarzPlay for its pioneering efforts on several fronts as a homegrown streaming service. StarzPlay has competed with international and local giants and emerged as MENA's leading SVOD platform. It has ambitiously forged ties with local and global players, invested in new content and explored various monetisation avenues. More importantly, its inhouse platform has now been outsourced to Lionsgate India, which launched a streaming service in the country.

In essence, we have picked an award-winning brand. Pictured with the award is Nauman Qureshi, VP of Product at StarzPlay.

March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 37

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Broadcast Awards OUTSTANDING ONLINE MEDIA INITIATIVE

Shashah.com With so many innovative ideas in the market, can there be more? The launch of Shashah.com, an IMDb of sorts for the Arab world, had us really impressed. The product of a Dubai-based startup, Shashah.com offers reviews of Hollywood and Arabic content in Arabic. With over 30 OTT service providers in MENA and major global players offering thousands of hours of content and box office cinema hits targeting the Saudi market, Shashah founders Dr Riyadh Najm and Ammar Hares felt that Arab audiences also deserved reviews of Arabic and Western content – unavailable in the region until the launch of Shashah.com.

Pictured with the award is Ammar Hares, CEO of LovetodoMedia.

BEST ADAPTATION OF A FOREIGN-L ANGUAGE DR AMA SERIES TO AR ABIC

Ser – ATL Media by Zee Entertainment Middle East Ser is an example of how Zee Middle East cashed in on the Arab world's love for Indian productions by producing Arabic adaptations of popular Indian shows. Ser, adapted from a popular Marathi show, brought Syrian actor Bassam Koussa together with other Lebanese stars. Ser was acquired by several mainstream channels like MBC Group, OSN and LBCI, and was the most-watched series on Shahid at the time. Pictured with the award is Adil Memon, Head of Content & Marketing, Zee Entertainment MENA.

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PROAWARDS

Broadcast Awards OUTSTANDING OT T INITIATIVE FROM A TELCO

Switch TV, Etisalat Switch TV, Etisalat's digital entertainment proposition, has the distinct advantage of being a super aggregator with content from different providers available on the platform. It claims to be the only mobile streaming OTT app that allows free streaming on Etisalat's mobile network.

Content can be streamed on mobiles without mobile data consumption charges. It offers free movie rentals (TVOD), with same-day releases in some cases. It also currently offers live TV and SVOD in the UAE. Mariana Ugorchuk, Head of Product at Switch TV, received the award from Muhammed Irfan, CEO of BS Broadcast.

FEMALE BROADCAST E XECUTIVE OF THE Y E AR

Nadine Samra, Chief Business Officer at Weyyak Nadine Samra, who has been heading Weyyak at Zee Entertainment since its launch in 2017, has helped the digital platform go from strength to strength. In a year when productions came to a standstill owing to the Covid-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown, she led her team to co-produce Chicago Street, a wellreceived Syrian drama. She has also helped lead multiple expansion and integration projects for Weyyak in the last couple of years, and played a key role prior to that as Head of Digital Operations at MBC Group. Nadine is an inspiration to other women in the region.

March 2021 | www.broadcastprome.com | 39

PROAWARDS

Satellite Awards OUTSTANDING INITIATIVE FROM A SATELLITE COMPAN Y

Eutelsat for sat.tv Eutelsat's sat.tv service aims to offer viewers of free-to-air TV channels in the region a better user experience. With an enhanced electronic programme guide for free-to-air (FTA) TV channels, instant channel filtering by genre, automatic updating of channel lists and an instant seven-day EPG with thumbnails and genre filters, sat.tv promises audiences an unparalleled FTA user experience – quite unheard of in the FTA space. This service also broadens content visibility and enables broadcasters to increase their ability to target specific viewers.

Pictured with the award is Robert Lakos, who played a significant role in helping develop this service.

SATELLITE SOLUTIONS PROVIDER OF THE Y E AR

ATEME ATEME secured a fantastic opportunity to showcase its capability in the region when UAE telco operator du required a disaster-recovery solution for its seven main DTH headend systems, to prevent any service issues. ATEME proposed a smart solution to enable the recovery of any of the seven systems seamlessly. This offering stood out as a bespoke and complete solution, and is the first to be used by a teleport in the region. It is also part of a larger project that ATEME has undertaken for du. The software-based solution has enabled the end user to seamlessly transition to cloud-based models, ensuring a future-proof infrastructure to support future growth. Pictured with the award is Mohamed Razik Zaghlouli, Regional Sales Director at ATEME.

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PROGUEST

“In these days of cross-platform consumption, you can set up new online and mobile services quickly and transparently, with zero capital investment”

Making Media Cloud a Reality The industry started talking seriously about the cloud for broadcasting and the media and entertainment space maybe five or so years ago. Back then, people were excited by the promise of cloud processing and storage.

But in reality, their enthusiasm was based on very little solid knowledge, as the information was just starting to take shape.

The truth is that the IT vendors that built cloud infrastructures had done so for traditional IT applications – banking, insurance, airline reservations – which have a large number of transactions, each involving small amounts of data.

The one factor that distinguishes our industry is that we deal in large amounts of data – even a 30-second commercial is going to approach a gigabyte, and episodics and movies are each going to be many gigabytes.

But our conversations about cloud applications at past NABs or IBCs meant that broadcasting showed up on the cloud vendors’ radar. They wanted to find a way to help, which meant working to understand our business and our unique requirements.

Why, though, are broadcasters interested in the cloud?

I see two reasons.

First, any broadcast infrastructure, whether built on legacy hardware or on COTS computing, takes space.

Broadcasters are drawn to prestigious addresses for their studios, but resent paying high real estate costs for machine rooms. Getting rid of all that hardware makes the economics of citycentre studios much more attractive.

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Second, the move away from legacy hardware to IP-connected IT technology is inexorable, and that means moving away from the broadcasters’ comfort zones. Prioritydriven networking and virtual machine orchestration are not commonplace skills in the traditional broadcast engineering team, and if they can be outsourced, that reduces risk.

An interesting point here is that one fact broadcasters often cite against a move to the cloud is that moving content across the internet to thirdparty servers introduces the risk of third-party piracy. To which I would point out that the big cloud players have literally thousands of employees with ‘security’ on their business cards.

Keeping their customers’ data secure is of the top priority for cloud vendors: without it they do not have a business. AWS provides cloud outsourcing for the US Secret Service, which underlines the lengths to which it goes. Cloud vendors talked to broadcasters, and to the major technology partners like Imagine, to find out what was needed.

Because of the technology of the time, the previous generation of broadcast architectures had video servers for playout, with limited storage space due to cost. They were backed by nearline storage, racks of spinning disks that provided IT service levels – not real-time video, but they could transfer content to the playout servers when required.

And backing those was the archive, which was probably LTO tape. Asset management took care of moving material from level to level.

As cloud people began to understand our industry, they developed solutions at the right price points, with tools like fast access and storage costs in line with on-premise.

The architecture you could build today might include solid-state storage directly attached to each playout instance. The content that you know – your asset management system knows – you are going to need in the next day or two sits in ready access storage, like Amazon S3, and there is a long-term store in Glacier (other cloud vendors have identical services under different names). It looks exactly like the HSM model we are used to, which is immensely reassuring.

But it does open up the real benefits of the cloud. Where you have multiple outlets, you massively reduce costs by preparing the content once and making it available across all services.

New channels can be set up and on air in days, and new players can enter a market very quickly indeed. In these days of cross-platform consumption, you can set up new online and mobile services quickly and transparently, with zero capital investment.

It also means, because we have no hardware in expensive locations, we do not have to put the staff next to it. The last 12 months has shown us the value of remote working. If the storage and processing are in the cloud, then you only need a very modest data connection to manage a channel from anywhere in the world. In the cloud future, the operator will neither know nor care where the content and hardware are.

Bob Bolson is Director of Solutions Architecture at Imagine Communications.

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