The Saudi Media Forum in Riyadh, now in its third year, is part of the country's efforts to diversify its economy under the "Saudi Vision 2030" strategy, with a focus on developing creative industries. This 2- day forum between Feb 20-21, 2024,  and organized by the Saudi Broadcast Authority, primarily addresses the evolution of the media sector in Saudi Arabia. Key topics discussed include the digitization of media, the importance of local content for youth, and the challenges of maintaining impartiality in news coverage, especially in light of the current Israeli aggression on the Gaza strip in Occupied Palestine.

As described by Katerina  Pshenitsina , one of the esteemed international guests speakers, "The event is predominantly local, with the business program conducted in Arabic and international guests mainly participating as speakers. It's particularly valuable for those looking to engage with the Saudi Arabian market."

Two significant announcements were made by Salman Al Dosary, the Kingdom's Minister of Media at the forum. Firstly, 2024 has been declared the year of transformation for the Saudi media sector, with various initiatives and programs planned, including the establishment of a center for Artificial Intelligence in media. Secondly, a strategic agreement with Google was announced to support the region's digital transformation, which includes training programs for local media professionals and an expansion of online literacy and safety programs for children.

Several partnerships and business expansion initiatives were highlighted, with a particular focus on collaboration between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.  We noticed that there is significant interest by Saudi entities in particularly Egyptian content, and numerous discussions are underway between media organizations from both countries. These negotiations aim not only to supply the Saudi industry with Egyptian content but also to exchange talent and expertise to eventually commercialize the industry in the long term.

During the Forum, a significant announcement was made by Egypt's largest state-owned media conglomerate, United Media Services. Through its subsidiary, D Media, the conglomerate revealed its partnership with Saudi Arabia's "Big Time" Cinema Support Fund. This collaboration involves Advisor Turki Al Sheikh, the president of the Saudi Entertainment Authority, the primary sponsor of the fund, as well as the Saudi Ministry of Culture and a consortium of leading cinema and media production companies. The participating entities in the fund include D Media Company, Sila Studio, SMC Media, Al Alamiya Media, Rotana Media Group, Benchmark Events, and BSquared Art Production. The fund's objective is to improve the quality of Arabic content in terms of production, distribution, and the overall film industry.

The Saudi Arabian food and beverage (F&B) industry is generally considered to be the largest in the Arab-speaking world, making it approximately the number one ranked F&B market in the region, valued at about $50 billion last year. A panel session titled "Marketing in the Era of Media Formations"  hosted four speakers representing the kingdom's biggest and most powerful food/ delivery/ Tech apps- a rapidly growing multi-million dollar industry: Jahez group, Hunger Station, Mrsool

As many of our readers don't speak Arabic, we have transcribed, and translated some of these sessions for the purpose of information sharing and understanding the size of business and tech advancements that is taking place in the kingdom, and has been for many years. 

The full video is available on the youtube link below , and here's a translated glimpse of insights shared on this extremely informative panel session, extracted from just one minute of the conversation, between minutes 8:25 to 9:25:  Hamad Al Bakr CEO of Business in Jahez Group, one of Saudi's leading Tech/ food delivery platforms was providing his input to the conversation: 

"Apps are no longer just for deliveries and food orders; their purpose has expanded significantly. They have transformed into media and advertising platforms. On Jahez, we see over 900,000 daily users engaging in various activities, whether it's ordering food or just watching... Our advertising revenue has surpassed 100 million SAR ($27m) annually. Last Ramadan, I officially congratulated my team on becoming an advertising outlet. This was confirmed when one of the biggest TV channels requested to advertise their Ramadan series on our platform. We consider this a striking transformation, because TV has traditionally been regarded as the most powerful advertising medium- and now they're turning to us to advertise!"

During the panel session, there was a lot of emphasis on the abundance of user data, something that wasn't previously available, and the usefulness of such data for targeted advertising, service personalization, and acquiring new users. There was very little or no mention of user data protection. 

What are our learnings and what opportunities do we see in this industry? There are plenty, but here are the top 3:

- Saudi Companies have advanced tech that is purpose built for a predominantly Arabic market. In our opinion, such tech is successful, and of international quality and can be eventually exported to other markets, such as Africa. 

- Foreign Tech companies specialized in user data protection and security have a huge untapped market in Saudi Arabia

-  Arabic TV networks who's budgets suffer as a result of acquiring Drama series for Ramadan,  should target these apps for barter deals in ad inventory. 

We've identified numerous other opportunities, but we'll keep this short and sweet!

*This article is contributed by our specialized Consultant  Heba Korayem. heba@hconsult.me