Review
Our
Review
Organiser of definitive event for broadcast, satellite and entertainment content sectors across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia claims major success.
“ goal is to provide a platform for experts and professionals in the industry to meet and explore the cutting edge of technology,” said Trixie LohMirmand, SVP, Events Management, DWTC.
“ With a burgeoning regional TV market set to reach $ 15 billion by 2021, as well as a host of new solutions for content creation and delivery to be discussed at the content congress, there’ s a wealth of content readily available for individuals and organisations attending this year,” LohMirmand added.
Running in parallel to the event, the CABSAT conference programme started on a high note with His Excellency Dr Mohammed Nasser Al Ahbabi, Director General for the UAE Space Agency delivering an insightful presentation on the growing significance of the UAE Satellite & Space programme.
Speaking at the Satellite Communications Conference, Ahbabi said:“ CABSAT is a very important exhibition and conference for us as it demonstrates new technology in this region. The event also aligns with the UAE government’ s strategy to position the country as a hub for space events and exhibitions showcasing future technologies.”
The show floor was equally busy as over 500 international exhibitors, including major names from the Broadcast & Satellite industry presented their solutions to thousands of
CABSAT 2018
visitors, with products including augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence technologies which are set to reshape the future of video communication.
Given the increased demand for quality capacity networks from governments and enterprises, CABSAT reflects the tremendous potential in the digital, satellite broadcasting and ICT development.
Digital consumption in the Middle East and North Africa region is growing at one of the fastest paces in the world, driven by a large population, fast-improving mobile connectivity and a flood of new streaming platforms in the market, according to an EY report commissioned by DWTC to coincide with the event. EY compiled its regional analysis, Videonomics, which pinpoints the growth in online revenues contributing to the current state of the digital market for MENA.
“ Digital share of the video revenue pie is projected to rise from 9.6 per cent in 2017 to 17.3 per cent by 2021. Furthermore, teenagers and young adults, who make up the majority in the region, are entering the workforce and becoming paying consumers adding a significant boost to media spends. To capture a piece of this growth, content creators would be well served to focus on relevant genres for this youth audience, which may include sports, premium action or comingof-age films,” said Ahmed Reda, MENA telecommunications, media and technology leader at EY.
Among the reasons, the report cites the large percentage of young people in the region, particularly those entering the workforce, as a catalyst for the growth.
According to Nripendra Singh, director of media and entertainment, EY Africa, India and the Middle East, digital video revenues and viewership are set to grow by at least 22 % annually up to 2021 in the MENA region.“ To ride this new wave, content creators will need to focus on multi language offerings, partnerships across the video value chain, analytics and customer centricity,” he advised.
Satellite operator Eutelsat also took the opportunity to announce the rise of FTA HD channels in key 7 / 8 ° West video neighbourhood. The attraction of the region’ s 7 / 8 ° West neighbourhood is driven by the growth of High Definition content now broadcast on 187 channels at this position. One visible shift can be noticed when it comes to FTA channels, which is now broadcasting more than 110 HD channels, a 44 % increase from January 2017 to January 2018. This acceleration, which once mainly applied to Gulf countries, now applies to the entire region, especially Levantine and North African countries.
The pace of HD adoption is accelerating in the MENA region. According to Eutelsat’ s latest TV Observatory report relating to Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, HD-equipped homes at 7 / 8 ° West neighbourhood are now reaching 20.6m( 66 % of TV homes), up from 10.7 million in 2016.
28 EUROMEDIA