Market Focus
Market Focus
Piracy continues to trouble MENA
Regional expert Chris Forrester gives a comprehensive overview of the burgeoning MENA digital media market .
Satellite delivery remains hugely important over the whole Middle East region , and the CabSat show in Dubai ( May 16-18 ) saw visitors enjoy the show ’ s Content Congress , the SATEXPO Summit and elements focusing on ‘ Next Up ’ and ‘ NextGen ’ elements for the industry . 4K might not have happened – other for those lucky enough to be able to tap into FIFA ’ s Qatar 4K / UHD output – but there ’ s a definite shift towards utilising 4K / UHD for future-proofing production .
A focus at CabSat was the Africa + Saudi programme which looks at the key Saudi media sector which is worth some is Saudi Rials 17.4 billion ( about € 14.2 billion ), and which leads the Middle East and North Africa ( MENA ) media market with about a 30 percent market share .
CabSat 2023 was something of a catchup after the past few years when travel to Dubai was considered risky and in some cases impossible because of restrictions or fear of Covid infection . This time last year , however , the focus was on the then upcoming football World Cup in Qatar . The matches – contrary to some extreme doubts ahead of the event
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– were a technical and audience success . There were also some very obvious problems which mostly concerned piracy . One wellplaced observer working in Egypt during the Qatari matches said there was barely a café not viewing the football : “ EVERYONE had a variety of illegal streaming sources to watch beIN ’ s coverage . Lots of artifacts and annoying buffering but still …” CUP . Qatar poured billions into its World Cup and despite some pre-match anxieties it all went well . But the commercial success in the Gulf was difficult to measure , though that was hardly the point . Now that the World Cup is over , what ’ s out there to top the football ? As every pay-broadcasters fully understands , making pay-TV pay is hard work that you do because you like the profits . But beIN has always been deep in red ink and the World Cup didn ’ t do anything to fix this . One insider summed up the situation stating that “ Hard work + big losses = dump it and forget it ”.
The question remains as to whether , now that the World Cup is done and dusted , is to ask what might happen to broadcaster beIN . Will it slowly downsize itself into obscurity , for example ? CHALLENGES . Meanwhile , the MENA everyday broadcast challenges remain . Nilesat , for example , has just appointed a new Board of Directors , and with its Arabsat rival , continues to dominate Middle East broadcast delivery . The past year saw a major – some might say ground-breaking - change of domicile for MBC , the long-established free-to-view broadcaster , based in Dubai since 2002 ( MBC launched from London in 1991 ), has shifted its HQ to Saudi capital Riyadh . Its initial period in London , and then Dubai , saw MBC grow from a single channel to the broadcasting behemoth it is today , and few would doubt the immense influence it has on the region .
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the MBC Group Waleed bin Ibrahim Al- Ibrahim praised Saudi Arabia ’ s “ renaissance ” in terms of cultural activity , news influence and dominant entertainment success . Saudi Arabia introduced its first channel , MBC 1 , in London in 1991 and moved to Dubai ’ s Media City in 2002 . In 2020 , MBC Group signed an agreement with Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Farhan under which MBC would shift its HQ to Riyadh as a hub for its 24-hour news channel Al Arabiya and its breaking news channel Al-Hadath . The overall transition from Dubai to Riyadh will take a few more years , but MBC is now very much a Saudi-domiciled as well as Saudi-owned and focused broadcaster .
MBC ’ s new HQ is now the centrepiece of Riyadh ’ s Media City . Interestingly , MBC ’ s very long-serving CEO Sam Barnett , despite announcing his resignation back in December 2019 , in December 2020 re-joined the operation . His skillset and management style were very much needed . He replaced Marc Antoine d ’ Halluin who had been hired from OSN . Indeed , the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ( KSA ) is now playing a much more visible game in terms of media . The days of KSA ’ s