Significant growth opportunities in short-form video and Digital Islamic Services

Dubai, United Arab Emirates. - Tuesday, May 26th 2015 [ME NewsWire]

Dubai’s media sector has gone from strength to strength in the past decade, with the creation of a real industry ecosystem emerging in Dubai; Dubai Media City provides a home to industry giants, as well as SMEs and entrepreneurs from across the media value chain.

TECOM Investments’ Media Cluster, which comprises Dubai Media City, Dubai Studio City and International Media Production Zone, experienced positive growth in 2014, with 201 new companies joining its portfolio.

Deloitte’s recent TMT Predictions 2015 highlight real growth opportunities for content creators across the MENA region, focusing particularly on short-form content and Digital Islamic Services. In line with this, Mohammad Abdullah, Managing Director of TECOM’s Media Cluster has called for content creators to join these vibrant business communities - which already provide a home to content creators from around the world - to enable their further development and growth.

2015 is predicted to be the first-billion unit year for the global smartphone sector, which will drive the growth of short-form videos, a sector that is expected to generate $5 billion in revenues worldwide.  While this is still a small figure in comparison to long-form content, which is expected to generate over $400 billion from advertising and subscription revenues alone, this represents a significant growth opportunity, particularly given the insatiable appetite for online, short-form content in the Middle East. The region is YouTube’s second largest market worldwide, second only to the US, with the top channels generating over 10 billion views per month.

Digital Islamic Services, which includes any technology or media online product or service that addresses the needs of consumers in the Islamic economy, will also be a strong area of growth over the next few years. Deloitte predicts that the region’s Digital Islamic Economy will nearly double in size in terms of Muslim consumer spend on lifestyle products and services, to reach $30 billion by 2018. Muslim consumers represent one of the most powerful consumer groups in the world, and the Middle East, with the highest share of consumer spend, some of the fastest rates of technology development and adoption, and desire to lead the world in Islamic Economy development, has created an ideal environment for the growth of the Digital Islamic Economy, with provision of ripe opportunities for content creators in this space.

Commenting, Mohammad Abdullah, said;

 “The environment for content creators has never been as competitive as it is today, with consumers able to access almost unlimited amounts of content on their smartphones, and it is important that creators of content are given the right support and market for their output and to fill a niche.

“With large industry players adopting the short-form video format, whose new ventures we continue to support, it is more important now than ever that creators of online content are given the right support and environment to operate. We continue to encourage creators of content from around the world to join our business communities, and ensure that creativity and competition is nurtured across the industry.”

“We have long supported Deloitte’s Middle East TMT predictions as they contain many valuable insights that serve as a guide for the media industry and, as evidenced by their predictions, there are real growth opportunities within particular areas of the media sector.”

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About Dubai Media City

Dubai Media City (DMC), part of TECOM’s Media Cluster, is the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s largest hub dedicated to the media industry. Since its inauguration in 2001, DMC has grown to become a thriving business community, home to leading international and regional brands including CNN, Thomson Reuters, MBC and CNBC Arabia. DMC has created an environment that encourages the expansion and growth of its business partners, and is carrying forward Dubai’s vision of becoming a knowledge-based economy with its extensive talent pool of qualified industry experts. DMC offers state-of-the-art infrastructure which supports the current and future needs of business partners, and through its real estate offerings of boutique offices and business centres, businesses of all sizes can operate alongside leading local, regional and international players. DMC is an ecosystem for the industry, and through networking events, business partners can share ideas and access industry experts and other business partners.

For more information please visit www.dubaimediacity.com

Contacts

Alexa Hooft Graafland

AHooftGraafland@bellpottinger.com

+971555597404

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