Dubai Media City captures greater global mindshare

Dubai Media City reinforced its position as an international media hub while its community continued to be enriched by the addition of global and regional companies. The number of companies registered a 23 per cent increase growing from 780 in 2003 to 960 by the end of 2004.

In response to the growth, Dubai Media City is all set to expand its infrastructure in 2005 with the completion of new high-rise Towers. Built by private investors, the new development will create space for the evolution of the DMC community into a microcosm of the industry. The first two Towers will be adding about 305,000 sq. ft of leasable area. Private investors will play a major role in future infrastructure development in the City.

"Dubai Media City worked to galvanise media development in various sectors to add to the new vibrancy and energy that the industry acquired in the region over 2004," said Abdulhamid Juma, CEO of Dubai Media City. "Our focus continued to be on providing a robust infrastructure and dynamic environment for media activity to flourish and create value. The initiatives we launched in 2004 were designed not only to generate global interest in Dubai but also to raise the competitive abilities of local and regional companies," he added.

DMC's growth was spread across all its segments. The Media and Marketing Services segment that encompasses diverse sectors like Advertising, Public Relations and Marketing Consultancy, was the largest in DMC comprising of 48 % of companies. This was followed by Printing and Publishing with 17 %, Film with 10 %, Service Providers with 8 %, New Media with 6 % and Broadcasting with 5 %. The share of other sectors was as follows: Leisure and Entertainment - 4 %, News Agencies - 1 % and Music - 1 %.

The broadcast sector in DMC witnessed some of the strongest growth. Today, the DMC community has 40 broadcasters transmitting more than 80 channels out of Dubai making it the City the largest concentration of broadcast ventures in the region and beyond. Most of the major regional players in this sector have their headquarters in DMC. This sector will continue to be important to Dubai Media City's future plans as it seeks to launch new initiatives to further develop the conditions for them to flourish.

Another segment in DMC that witnessed considerable development was printing and publishing. The International Media Production Zone (IMPZ), DMC's initiative dedicated to media production, announced its masterplan in September last year. The masterplan include pre-engineered units containing warehouses with offices and showrooms, Media Production Studios, a Publishing Pavilion - a centre dedicated to the publishing industry -, a Logistics Centre that provides efficient inventory storage and distribution facilities, and a Community Centre that offers facilities for working and residential communities.

DMC's rapid growth was complemented by initiatives that raised its global profile in the past year. Its crowning achievement was the successful organisation of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF).

Held between December 6 and 11, 2004 with the objective of building cultural understanding between the East and West, the Festival enhanced Dubai's reputation as a crossroads of cultures. The success of DIFF put DMC in a new league of premier film festival organisers. The international film industry took note of Dubai as an enchanting addition to the global film festival circuit

DIFF featured 76 films including features, retrospectives and short films. More than 13,000 people attended the Festival, with ticket generation crossing the 18,000 mark on the fifth day. More than 100 celebrities from East and West attended, while more than 300 international visitors flew in to attend the Festival.

The Ibda'a Media Student Awards, another of Dubai Media City's annual events, reached out to the world by going international in 2004. The Awards evoked a tremendous response, attracting 2013 entries from universities and media schools in more than 20 countries. The major countries represented by this year's entries included not just traditionally active contributors to Ibda'a like India, Egypt, Iran, UAE, Lebanon and South Africa but also Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and UK. For the first time, participation came from Puerto Rico, Palestine, Italy and Canada.

Growing hand in hand with the DMC media cluster was its community of independent media professionals and freelancers at the Media Business Centre which expanded to 351 members, an increase of 35 per cent from last year. The Media Business Centre grew further as the single largest resource for 'talent-on-tap' in the region. The Centre has developed into a virtual greenhouse for new business ideas and niche ventures. DMC is constructing a new building exclusively for freelancers and independent media professionals.

Other infrastructure development set for completion this year includes a multi-storey parking facility with a capacity of over 1500. The facility will be completed by April 2005.

Over the new year, Dubai Media City will seek to consolidate its rapid growth and roll out new ventures to catalyse industry growth. New initiatives aimed at enhancing the infrastructure and environment for various media sectors will be launched.

Dubai Media City was inaugurated four years ago on January 20th, 2001 by His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister with a vision of creating a free-thinking media community that will develop into an international hub for the industry. Dubai Media City is also part of HH Sheikh Mohammed's vision of creating a diversified knowledge-based economy in Dubai.