The Advent of Media Zones & Media Cities Across the MENA Region
Regional Hotspots
Individual markets within MENA have different levels of appeal to investors. Some, like Egypt and Iran, are attractive because of their population size, others because the strength of their economies.
The UAE has become a strategic hub because of Abu Dhabi’s twofour54 media zone, a government-backed initiative to grow the creative industries that is currently home to around 450 companies – ranging from Rotana Studios to CNN. One twofour54 tenant is Ericsson, which recently secured a contract to provide playout, media management and global distribution services for three Fox Networks Group channels.
IHS Markit senior analyst Constantinos Papavassilopoulos sees Saudi Arabia as a “promising market. It has a very ambitious master-plan for growing the economy, a new Blue-Print called Vision 2030, that can re-shape the media industry in the whole MENA region. It is the first time Saudi Arabia has adopted such an outward-looking and future-proof strategy for this sector.”
Papavassilopoulos also points to the establishment of a new Saudi Media City Al Qidiya “which will host modern digital production facilities, digital studios and training facilities.”
North Africa is gradually coming on to the radar for MENA investors. Recent developments include the launch of Moroccan international channel bouquet Al Maghriba on the Arabsat-5C satellite (which gives it distribution across MENA).
SVOD platform Icflix has been paying particular attention to North Africa, signing strategic distribution partnerships with Orange Tunisie in Tunisia and Maroc Telecom in Morocco.
The Dubai-based platform also invested in Tunisian movie Borders of Heaven and Moroccan movie Burn Out. Given Morocco’s experience servicing Hollywood films, Icflix sees an opportunity to take advantage of the Kingdom’s studios and technicians.
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