TV MEA MIPTV 2014

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TVMEA

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APRIL 2014

MIPTV EDITION

Israel: Idea Hub / twofour54’s Noura Al Kaabi

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CONTENTS FEATURE

MENA Pay Day While they may be flatlining in mature markets in North America and Western Europe, pay-TV penetration rates are still rising in emerging territories, and the Middle East and Africa are no exception.

Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Editor Mansha Daswani Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Managing Editor Joanna Padovano Associate Editor Joel Marino Assistant Editor Simon Weaver Online Director Victor L. Cuevas Production & Design Director Phyllis Q. Busell Art Director Cesar Suero Sales & Marketing Director Faustyna Hariasz Sales & Marketing Coordinator Terry Acunzo Business Affairs Manager

Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP & Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV MEA © 2014 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tvmea.ws

Pay-TV revenues in the Middle East and North Africa are expected to grow by more than 83 percent to reach $5.6 billion by 2020, according to estimates from Digital TV Research. Not surprisingly, in a part of the world where satellite receivers on top of buildings are ubiquitous, DTH will dominate MENA’s pay-TV revenues, accounting for two-thirds of the 2020 total. Revenues from satellite TV are expected to reach $3.74 billion in 2020, up by $1 billion from 2013 and nearly double the 2010 total.

As in the rest of the world, pay-TV platforms are differentiating themselves with exclusive content deals, technological advancements and distinctive local programming. African pay-TV operator Zuku, for example, recently commissioned a political drama series, State House, that it is billing as “Kenya’s answer to The West Wing.” The low-cost DTH service MyHD has ramped up its offerings, adding 68 channels to its platform recently. OSN, too, has been bolstering its lineup with a string of new carriage deals for international channels and lining up an Arabic version of Betty La Fea, ordering 90 episodes of Hebal Regal El Ghorab (Crow’s Foot).

Indeed, there are a slew of international formats being adapted by free- and pay-TV broadcasters across MENA, and, increasingly, concepts from this region are making their way to the global market.

Just last month, all3media international announced it was taking on its first concept from South Africa, signing the representation rights to the cooking competition format Ultimate Braai Master. But the biggest content-export story in the MENA region is Israel, a market we take a close look at in this issue.

In her report in this edition, Anna Carugati spotlights Israel’s top content exporters, including Dori Media, Keshet Media Group and Armoza Formats, and hears from European content companies like ITV Studios and Endemol about the opportunities they are seeing in the Israeli market.

This edition also offers up an inside look at Abu Dhabi’s attempts to become an Arabic content-production hub.

Noura Al Kaabi, the CEO of twofour54, updates TV MEA on the progress the organization has made in producing local content and attracting international media companies to film in the emirate.

—Mansha Daswani

6 Idea Hub The creativity of the Israeli television market is capturing the attention of broadcasters and producers worldwide.

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INTERVIEW 12 twofour54’s Noura Al Kaabi

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FremantleMedia International • Jamaica Inn • Lindsay • The X Factor UK

Adapted from the classic novel penned by Daphne du Maurier, Jamaica Inn is a gothic romantic drama that FremantleMedia International is looking to sell into the Middle East and Africa at this year’s market.The series, which is set in 1820, stars Jessica Brown Findlay and Matthew McNulty. “There is always a big appetite from our clients for high-end drama and with Jamaica Inn we will certainly deliver,” says Anahita Kheder, the senior VP for the Middle East, Africa and Southeastern Europe at FremantleMedia International. “Jamaica Inn is a high-quality British drama with an intense story line.” The company is also promoting Lindsay, an eight-part docuseries from OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network that is focused on the troubled actress Lindsay Lohan.“It is an honest, no-holds-barred account and unflinching look into the life of one of the world’s most sought-after celebrities,” says Kheder.Then there is The X Factor UK, which, according to Kheder, “is one of the highest rating series in the U.K. every single year and has launched the careers of some of the biggest music acts in the world.” She adds, “Since the incredible success of the first season of Arab Idol, we’re seeing even more demand for local pan-regional series across the entertainment space. We are also being approached by local production companies looking to utilize our extensive experience in the format space to develop their paper ideas.”

“Drama is creating quite the buzz in the region.”

—Anahita Kheder

Jamaica Inn

Televisa Internacional • The Color of Passion • What Life Took from Me • Loving You Is All I Want Televisa Internacional has been working to increase its business in the Middle East and Africa. The company is heading to MIPTV with the telenovela The Color of Passion (El Color de la Pasión), which tells the story of a man and a woman who must overcome their challenging pasts in order to finally achieve true happiness. Other classic novelas being showcased by the company include What Life Took from Me (Lo Que la Vida Me Robó), about a young woman who is hiding her romance with a Navy corporal from her parents, and Loving You Is All I Want (Quiero Amarte), which follows the complicated love life of a man who inherited a coffee plantation from his late wife. Televisa is also offering up Dolphins with the Stars, a reality show format that watches as celebrities team up with dolphins to perform for the public. Another highlight of the catalogue is Mad Mall, a hidden-camera format that captures the comedic reactions of shoppers who have become the victims of practical jokes. Meanwhile, Project Adam & Eve is a makeover reality format that gives ten men and women the opportunity to spend two months at one of the world’s best aesthetic-improvement centers for the purpose of being “reborn.” The show chronicles their physical and emotional transformations.

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HUB The creativity of the Israeli television market is capturing the attention of broadcasters and producers worldwide.

By Anna Carugati

t’s a studio like any in the world about to broadcast a live talent competition show.The excitement is palpable: crew members scampering about, a floor manager running down camera movements and the placement of talent on stage.The audience, comprised mainly of young girls, cheers when the judges take their places but goes wild when the host Assi Azar steps onto the stage. The studio is outside Jerusalem and the show is Rising Star, Keshet’s new hit.What sets it apart from other talent shows is the innovative app that viewers at home use to vote in real time during the live performance, helping to determine which contestants advance in the competition and which go home. (Take note of the words “new” and “innovation”; they will come up again.)

Rising Star ended its run on December 24 and averaged a 47-percent share, with its final episode hitting 58 percent. As huge as that number may seem to programmers in other markets, 40-percent shares are almost run of the mill in Israel.This season, rival broadcaster Reshet scored a 47.8-percent audience share with The X Factor Israel.

The main broadcasters in Israel are attracting big audiences with more than just entertainment shows. Reshet’s original comic-drama Irreversible averaged a 42.9-percent share and its satire show State of the Nation draws huge audiences. At Keshet, host Assi Azar is also the creator of the romantic comedy She’s with Me, whose first season averaged a 40-percent share and was recently renewed for a second season.

The world has taken note of the Israeli market in a big, big way. Rising Star has sold to major markets, including the U.S. and the U.K. Keshet’s groundbreaking drama Prisoners of War served as inspiration for the critically acclaimed Homeland and shows like Deal with It and Face 2 Face are selling internationally. Keshet has offices in the U.K., Australia and Canada, and has formed Keshet DCP, a joint venture with dick clark productions’ parent company, DC Media, to develop unscripted shows in the U.S. Armoza Formats has sold the game show Still Standing to NBC and around the world.The psychological crime thriller Hostages originally aired on Israel’s Channel 10 and its format was sold to CBS, where it aired in prime time. Armoza has been working with the Chinese broadcaster Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation, with whom it developed the prime-time format I Can Do That.

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Dori Media Group was one of the first Israeli companies to export its programming with BeTipul, which became In Treatment for HBO. Now Dori Media is distributing formats from Israel’s Channel 10, including the scripted comedy Magic Malabi Express, which was commissioned for a pilot by FOX, and Little Mom, another scripted comedy that was commissioned for a pilot by CBS. Japan’s Nippon Television Network has asked Dori Media to tailor its format AHA! Experience to the international market. Most recently, Dori Media teamed up with Charlie Ebersol’s The Company to jointly produce and distribute scripted and unscripted programming.

Major media companies are also investing in Israel. Endemol acquired Kuperman Productions, which became Endemol Israel, and also took a 33-percent stake in the broadcaster Reshet. ITV Studios set up a joint venture with Reshet, The Lab. Red Arrow Entertainment acquired a majority stake in July August Productions.

GLOBAL AMBITION

Why the focus on Israel? As Tim Hincks, the president of the Endemol Group, points out, Israel, like Holland before it, has emerged as a hothouse of creativity. “People in these smaller markets feel they can just take on the world with their formats and ideas. It’s become very clear that Israel is exactly that [type of market]. I’m in the business of creating ideas and of working with creative people, but I am also a viewer of content, and everyone has noticed some of the shows coming out of Israel. Homeland is perhaps the most obvious example, but there are entertainment formats and game shows, too, like Still Standing. So you begin to notice that the market is really doing something.”

That something is the continual search for the new and different.“We believe that if we keep coming up with great ideas, at the end of the day, the P&L will also be OK,” says Avi Nir, the CEO of Keshet Media Group. “So for us, it’s really about constantly looking for creative people, for new ideas and for how to get—and this is our goal in Israel—50-percent audience shares with our shows. How do we achieve this? What are the innovative ideas in drama or unscripted shows? Clearly we have many talented people here but we are constantly looking for more and encouraging them to try new ideas.”

“We are very creatively driven,” says Sharon GelbaumShpan, the executive VP of corporate development and inter4/14 World Screen 429

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national at Reshet. “This is an extremely competitive market. Our audience is extremely sophisticated. They are aware of everything that is going on in the market.We can’t let ourselves lag behind. So either you stay on top, which is the most exciting thing, or you are left behind.”

This can-do attitude is similar to the entrepreneurial spirit in Israel’s well-developed high-tech market. In fact, many people from the tech industry have moved to the television industry.

That’s why “new” and “innovation” are the key words in the Israeli TV market. However, so are “limited resources.”

SIZE MATTERS

Just like Israel’s national security, its future as a nation, and even its access to a resource as vital as fresh water, the Israeli

Dori Media’s Israeli comedy Little Mom is being piloted in the U.S. by CBS.

television market is shaped and influenced by geography.

Only some 8,500 square miles (22,000 square km.) large, Israel is about the size of the state of New Jersey. It is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea on one side and by political enemies on all others. The always-present possibility of an attack and the consequent mindset of living on borrowed time influence the thinking of viewers and producers alike.

Life is tough in Israel, and when viewers get to sit down and watch TV, they are impatient and very demanding.Thanks to cable and satellite, they see a multitude of imported shows and are used to seeing them in their original language with subtitles. So, Israeli homegrown shows have to be high quality to match shows from the U.S., the U.K. and beyond. But because the Israeli market is small, advertising revenues are limited and programming budgets are lower than those in larger markets.The challenge, therefore, is to give viewers the level of quality and sophistication they expect, but to do that with limited resources.

“We look at productions in the U.S. and the U.K. and ask, Why do you do that?” says Reshet’s Gelbaum-Shpan. “We know how to do that in fewer days. We know how to do that with fewer people.We know how to do that with fewer cameras. We work through editing more than we work through other ways. When we use the word “creativity” it isn’t necessarily only related to content, it’s also about finding creative solutions for producing very high-quality content with very limited resources.”

Israel’s population is about 8 million, but the Hebrewlanguage TV market is even smaller—only about 5.5 million.

BY THE NUMBERS

There aren’t many Israeli channels. Channel 1 is a public channel, fashioned on the BBC, financed by a license fee and run by the Israel Broadcasting Authority. There are two commercial broadcasters, Channel 10, which has been experiencing significant financial difficulties, and Channel 2, which is programmed by two franchise holders: Keshet and Reshet. In a unique setup, they both program Channel 2’s schedule. Since January 1, 2014, Reshet has been programming Sunday through Tuesday and Keshet is responsible for Wednesday through Saturday.

They have been swapping those days every two years. As of 2015, however, both are expected to have their own channels to program.

Other services include an Arabic-language channel;The Knesset Channel that broadcasts proceedings from the Israeli Parliament; and a music channel.

The two nights that garner the biggest ratings are Saturday and Sunday. Television still grabs the lion’s share of the advertising market. After two years of general ad market decline, ZenithOptimedia saw a small recovery in 2013. While newspapers and magazines saw a loss of advertising of about 10 percent, television held its own.

In fact, the commercial broadcasters Channel 2 and Channel 10 saw stronger demand during the first six months of the year. In 2013, of the total advertising expenditures of $948 million, television garnered $358 million, compared to newspapers’ $239 million and the Internet’s $228 million. In a nation with a mature high-tech industry, it’s not surprising that 70 percent of the Israeli population is wired.

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On the pay-TV side, the cable operator HOT and satellite provider Yes offer a mix of international and domestic channels.Yes has 578,000 subscribers, about 39 percent of Israel’s multichannel market, while HOT has 900,000 subscribers, about 60 percent.

Television in Israel started in the late 1960s. With the outbreak of the Six-Day War in 1967, Israelis started to demand television news to see what was going on in their country, and news has remained an extremely important part of the television diet ever since.

Commercial television has been on the air only since 1993.

Many outsiders ask, half-jokingly, what’s in the drinking water in Israel that is inspiring so much creativity? The average Israeli will quip in return, it’s not the water, it’s our wine! Whatever the elixir, Israel’s TV market is drawing a lot of attention.

WHAT’S IN THE WATER?

Last year, Endemol bought Kuperman to become its producer in Israel.“That was our first step,” says Hincks.“It’s really interesting to take a territory like Israel and say, maybe we can grow with the experts and build new properties and brands, which can start small and very quickly become global blockbusters. It was a short jump then to thinking that maybe we should do a bigger play in Israel and form a partnership with a platform.”

In December, Endemol acquired a 33-percent stake in Reshet. “It’s an incredibly exciting adventure for us, but what that represents is not Endemol getting into the broadcasting business—I wouldn’t see it like that at all,” adds Hincks.“It’s actually about Endemol using its scale and network to get behind its own IP and creativity. This partnership with Reshet is one way we can do that.We are investing our own money and taking some risks to ensure that we can create local hits for the Israeli market. And that’s the most important thing: to first of all create local hits for Israel, because that is the way Endemol works.

Once we’ve got a local hit, there is every chance that it can travel very quickly around the world. That is a really exciting model for us.”

“Because of our commitment to creativity and our strong belief in the Israeli market’s ability to serve the whole world,

partnering with Endemol opens a wealth of possibility for us to create and produce and to distribute shows around the world,” agrees Reshet’s Gelbaum-Shpan. “We are very excited.”

Reshet has also partnered with ITV Studios to form The Lab, a content developer and IP holder. “We’ve been working with Reshet for about a year, and there is a real desire from them to take risks and develop very good shows,” says Mike Beale, the director of international formats at ITV Studios.

“They’ve got their business models very right, but because their market is so small, they need to get onto the worldwide stage to make real money. That is what has driven them to create a format that can work globally.”

The Lab came about, as Beale explains, because two likeminded companies were looking for opportunities to expand their businesses. “We were looking around the world at where we were growing and where we should be. Israel was definitely one of those territories where we needed to be active.

We weren’t entirely convinced that we wanted to be a production entity there, but there was great creativity there. The question was how could we tap into that great creativity.”

Reshet was looking for a global partner that was strong in the U.K. and the U.S. and that could help develop their shows internationally.

The first show to come out of The Lab is Game of Chefs, a prime-time competitive cookery format, which will be launched at MIPTV. Other shows are My Dream Wedding, which is being produced by ITV Studios America for TLC, and Secret Matchmaker for Reshet.

BEYOND BORDERS

One Israeli company that has been looking to the international market for a long time is Dori Media.Years ago, Nadav Palti, president and CEO, saw the tremendous success of telenovelas and began producing in Spanish.

“As we managed to penetrate more new territories with our telenovelas, we understood that we had to be different, more sophisticated. We needed to include international elements in our productions,” says Palti. The result was Lalola, which sold to more than 150 territories.

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Prisoners of War, from Keshet, caught the interest of Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa in the U.S., who used the hit drama as the basis for their show Homeland.

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The Gran Plan, aired on Channel 10, is among the many Israeli entertainment shows that Armoza Formats is taking to broadcasters around the world.

Then, the worldwide economic crisis of 2009 impacted all markets and Dori Media diversified its production slate to accommodate budgets of all sizes, with reality and game shows as well as daily and weekly scripted dramas that have been doing brisk business around the world. Dori Media also owns or programs channels: telenovela, movie and generalentertainment in Israel; and one channel dedicated to telenovelas and another for toddlers in Indonesia.

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT!

of [U.S. talent agency] WME, get a great American writer and move forward with the help of BermanBraun [now Whalerock Industries] and USA Network. I would love this to be the prototype of how we work.”

“You should think out of the box,” says Dori Media’s Palti.

“You have to have something that no one else thought about.

When we discuss a new project, people at my company always tell me, Nadav, this is not doable; nobody has done this in the past.

And I answer,Then this is what we should do, because if somebody else can do it, we will not have any advantage. So if no one has done it, we should find a way to do it.We should think of how we can do it very economically, like In Treatment. It is very sophisticated and smart, but very inexpensive to produce.”

As long as Israeli producers and broadcasters continue to think out of the box and come up with innovative ideas, the world will continue to take notice.

Armoza Formats’ founder and CEO, Avi Armoza, is seeing continued demand worldwide for entertainment formats.The first was The Package, which sold to the BBC; it was followed

by Still Standing, which aired on NBC, and Connected. “Everyone is looking for the next big hit,” he says, and he is confident his catalogue can satisfy varying budgets and time slots.

China’s CCTV has picked up the game show Upgrade, a deal that came on the heels of the codevelopment pact with Jiangsu Broadcasting Company for I Can Do That. Armoza offers a broad range of scripted and unscripted formats.

Following the success of Prisoners of War and Homeland, Keshet’s Nir wants to increase his scripted business. He continues to look for new formulas for getting ideas to the small screen, as was the case with the thriller Dig. “Gidi [Gideon Raff, creator of Prisoners of War] wrote the story first and then Tim [Kring, creator of Heroes and Touch] joined, and they worked out the pilot together,” explains Nir.“We have been fortunate enough that [NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment’s] Jeff Wachtel and Bonnie Hammer took this on with great enthusiasm and it went straight to series. For me, it’s a great example of how we can come up with Game of Chefs is the first format to come out of The Lab, a content-development an idea, get an Israeli writer, get the collaboration unit formed by ITV Studios and Israeli broadcaster Reshet.

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culture. It’s not something exclusively local—it’s local, regional and international. Since twofour54’s inception, we have nurtured that ecosystem, and secured more partners and greater services that enable us to be the perfect home in the region for producers, broadcasters, game developers, animators, students, make-up artists and set designers.

TV MEA: The organization is involved in so many activities,

twofour54’s Noura Al Kaabi

By Mansha Daswani

Formed in 2008, twofour54 is a government-backed initiative in the United Arab Emirates aimed at turning Abu Dhabi into a media hub for the Middle East. The organization is involved in a host of activities, including creating a supportive environment for international media outfits to set up shop in the emirate and training a new generation of Arab youth to create content for the region and the world. At the helm of twofour54 is CEO Noura Al Kaabi, the first Emirati to be ranked as one of Foreign Policy magazine’s Top 100 Global Thinkers and frequently listed as one of the most powerful women in Arabian business and government. She met with TV MEA to discuss twofour54’s progress in developing a vibrant media sector in Abu Dhabi.

TV MEA: What are the major advances you’ve seen in Abu

Dhabi’s media sector since twofour54’s creation?

AL KAABI: Back in 2008 when we started twofour54, our

aim was to build a hub for creating excellent Arabic content and attracting talent to Abu Dhabi. We had to construct the proper ecosystem to help foster this talent and develop the industry. We’re not building an industry, but we’re developing it and we’re attracting youth to be part of it, to build up the 434 World Screen 4/14

from training to investing in content. Can you tell me about some of the key areas of the business?

AL KAABI: The umbrella is the regulatory framework that enables partners to set up in Abu Dhabi and at twofour54.

From twofour54’s business-unit perspective, we have tadreeb, our training academy. So far we’ve trained more than 6,900 individuals. We are partners with Cartoon Network in the Cartoon Network Animation Academy, which is the first ever in the region and worldwide. We also have partnerships with Ubisoft for the twofour54 Gaming Academy and between the BBC and tadreeb. tadreeb ensures that we are up to date with media technology and training individuals.

The second business unit is our production facility, intaj.We have more than ten studios and more than 20 post-production facilities. These are beautiful studios, but we need the talent too, so we have our freelancers’ scheme that helps get productions up and running. Local and international productions are relying on our local talent to form crews and on freelancers, instead of having to source these individuals [from] abroad.

As I mentioned earlier, we have built a strong infrastructure that includes studios and post-production facilities.The studios are currently fully utilized, so we need to build additional studios to cover demand. Our post-production facilities are also being utilized at 90 percent. We have generated over 18,350 hours of television content; our local, regional and international production partners are using the studios and postproduction facilities to generate world-class content. This makes Abu Dhabi an exporter of productions, which certainly wasn’t the case prior to 2008.

Our third business unit is ibtikar, twofour54’s contentand talent-development arm. We support pilots like Peeta Planet, a new social media travel series—its first season was commissioned and shown on Dubai One, and the show’s second season is in production. We have supported many pilots that have in turn been brought to broadcasters. The creative lab, a part of ibtikar, supports creative media projects ranging from short films, digital publications, video games and applications to everything that involves content development. Our mandate is to support young media talent and to encourage youth to view media as a commercial industry. We have more than 6,300 members in our virtual creative lab community portal and have created a physical space for them: #thelab was launched last year and it’s a place where young community members can meet, collaborate, brainstorm or simply relax and share ideas while having the opportunity to access editing and sound labs, a stage area and a mini screening wall.

We are proud to have more than 250 partners. Of course, to facilitate all of this work internally and externally, we have tawasol, which is twofour54’s business support arm for partners based in our creative campus. It helps the companies setting up in Abu Dhabi with visas, permits, driving licenses, travel arrangements and virtually anything you can think of. If you’re

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twofour54’s contentdevelopment unit, ibtikar, invests in shows like the travel series Peeta Planet, produced for Dubai One.

with your family, what is the best community to live in?

Where are the best schools? We want to make sure that setting up your business in Abu Dhabi and specifically in twofour54 is an easy, hassle-free process.

TV MEA: What are the major challenges you’ve faced in

attracting international media companies to Abu Dhabi?

AL KAABI: We are a country with more than 200 nationali-

ties.We’re cosmopolitan.The UAE is a place where we believe in diversifying the economy, and nurturing the creative industry directly in line with the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 [plan of action]. There are two dimensions to the challenges faced by twofour54. Number one is attracting international production houses.We have succeeded so far, but in the beginning it wasn’t easy.We [are] attracting international production companies by showcasing successful production stories in the UAE, as well as the different services and benefits offered by twofour54 like infrastructure, talent and production investments and incentives. We visit and attend various events and conferences, like MIPCOM. Such events, for example, have helped us attract a full Syrian drama to be filmed in our studios. We provided a 30-percent rebate scheme introduced by the Abu Dhabi Film Commission from which production companies can benefit.

From a local perspective, the challenge is how to convince youth that media can be a rewarding career.This is what we’re doing via our creative labs and outreach programs, and by visiting universities and schools. When we have projects, when we have film sets from local and international producers, this is when we get young people to look seriously at the industry.

The old perception of having a career in the media industry used to revolve around presenting a TV show, working as reporter and directing a film or acting in it. The full picture of a media career wasn’t understood. This is part of what we’re doing. There is an increase in youth joining media, in youth wanting to hold the camera or wanting to build sets for filmmakers or TV shows. This is our mission, to help more youth be part of that culture, enrich the culture of twofour54 and support the building of a sustainable media and entertainment industry in the region.

In 2014, we are going to focus on doing our best in securing big projects that have great impact on the media sector, help the community and have a positive [result] both economically and in talent development.

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TV MEA: What advice would you give specifically to young

women looking to make it in Arab media?

AL KAABI: We at twofour54 arrange a series of visits to dif-

ferent academic entities across the nation, introducing students to various career opportunities that the media industry in the UAE offers. We provide students an overview of twofour54 and how it is working on developing the region’s media and entertainment industry. During these visits, we highlight case studies of successful projects done by Emirati and Arab creative talent, and how it helped them take their first step in their future careers. My advice to Emirati and Arab women would be that the media industry is booming and is growing rapidly in the region, and there are many opportunities available for them to play their part and contribute to its development. For example, twofour54 has created over 3,000 job opportunities since it was launched five years ago, and the market is seeking young talent, especially in content development, video games, animation, post-production, advertising and law and finance related to mass media. This represents real opportunity for us all, men and women. Emirati women will also have a major role in contributing to the growth of the industry. It is expected that by 2030, 40 percent of employees in the media industry will be Emirati women. The media industry, along with other industries, has seen women very successfully assume leadership roles through the opportunities and support provided by the leadership and government of the UAE. This is the best time for women to benefit from and take advantage of the opportunities available in this vibrant market.

twofour54 has established studios and post-production facilities at its Abu Dhabi headquarters.

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