Growing demand for Arabic content

Exponential growth in online entertainment

Global media giants including Netflix, Amazon Prime, OSN Play and Starzplay have chosen Dubai to establish their regional headquarters, while music-streaming giants like Spotify, Deezer and most recently, YouTube Music, have established operations in the city. This has been driven by a surging population of younger subscribers and a rich demographic mix, especially in the UAE, and Dubai in particular.

While there are more than 420 million native Arabic speakers worldwide, just 3% of all online content is produced in Arabic. This gap presents huge opportunities for the creative community and investors in Dubai.

UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are the region’s biggest players, together accounting for more than 50% of the total media and entertainment market in MENA.

According to Strategy&’s ‘MENA Entertainment & Media Outlook 2020-2024’ report, digital content is expected to account for 46% of the US$22 billion media expenditure forecast in the MENA region in 2024, up from 37% in 2019.

A leading destination for creative talent

Dubai continues to invest huge sums in infrastructure supporting the development of its creative industries.

According to data compiled by Dubai Culture in conjunction with Dubai Statistics Centre, the number of businesses involved in the creative industries in the emirate rose from 8,352 in 2018 to 9,772 in 2019. This in turn led to a near-10% year-on-year increase in employment opportunities, with the number of creative jobs in the emirate rising to 75,998 in 2019.

Highlighting the inherently entrepreneurial aspect of the sector, start-ups – alongside small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – accounted for 99% of all creative businesses operating in Dubai.

Dubai recently launched its Creative Economy Strategy with a view to establishing itself as a global capital for innovation by 2025. As part of the plan, authorities are working to boost the creative industries’ contribution to Dubai’s economy to 5% of GDP by 2025, up from 2.7% at the end of 2019. Authorities also foresee the number of creative and cultural institutions operating in Dubai rising to 15,000, with the industry itself supporting 140,000 jobs by 2025.

A global hub for creative companies

TTECOM Group’s 11 business communities, under the jurisdiction of the Dubai Creative Clusters Authority, reinforce Dubai’s position as a global hub for business and commerce and have attracted companies and talent from around the world, including industry leaders such as Google, CNN, Facebook, MBC and more. The clusters are home to more than 5,400 businesses providing employment for more than 90,000 people. Global giants, as well as innovative start-ups and talented freelancers, take advantage of the facilities on offer, attracting businesses and talented professionals from around the world.

Government-backed investment and legislation

Supporting the creative industry, the Creative Community law is an example of the new legislation that sets out the legal basis for the establishment of an Innovation Hub and a ‘Creative Community’ in the Dubai TECOM Free Zone. This law allows innovative companies to benefit from the free zone’s 100% ownership and tax-free environment. In addition to its business-friendly regulatory framework, the city adopts an agile public-private partnership approach, helping businesses thrive in a dynamic and ever-changing environment. 

In addition to its business friendly regulatory framework, the city adopts a public private partnership approach to enable agility and responsiveness for businesses to thrive in a dynamic and ever changing environment.

Dubai Future Foundation

The Dubai Future Foundation, launched in 2016, is home to the Regulation Lab, a one-of-a-kind platform dedicated to providing an environment that encourages the adoption and testing of new technologies. The Lab brings law and policy makers together with academia, scientist-entrepreneurs and business leaders to help redefine the regulatory landscape to enable innovation and create a reliable and transparent legislative framework to support future innovation, advanced technology and emerging business models.

Another example of a PPP success is the foundation’s Mostaqbal (future) Portal in partnership with The Ministry of Education, Smart Dubai, Al Bayan Newspaper and SkyNews Arabia,. The portal offers access to the latest science and tech news, in depth research and visual content for Arabic readers.

Dubai Future Foundation’s knowledge platforms including the Mostaqbal Portal, Popular Science Arabia magazine, the State of the Future Report, MIT Tech Review in Arabic and others, continue to fill the essential gap in quality Arabic-language content particularly in the fields of science and tech.