Heba Korayem at the Co-Production Salon in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Bringing you exciting news from the Kingdom! 

For the first time, The Co-production Salon initiative made its way to explore the rapidly growing Saudi Entertainment industry. 

CoProduction Salon, as a significant independent player in Content Partnerships in MENA and Beyond,  takes pride in actively encouraging investments in Content to and from the MENA region. The salon provides a unique platform to explore collaborative ventures, showcase innovative projects, and contribute to the evolution of the Arabic media industry, only possible through proper partnership structures, co-funding projects, and independent, commercial, ROI- driven collaborative efforts. 

The CoProduction Salon, in it's non-virtual format as a coffee lounge for meetings, was a very cool feature that ran over three days on Feb 19th to 21st, 2024 near the busy cafe' area in the the Future of Media Exhibition (FOMEX), Riyadh's major TV and Broadcast event hosted by the Saudi Broadcast Authority. 

Only a 5 minute shuttle ride from Hilton Riyadh, where the Saudi Media Forum was taking place, FOMEX attracted the region's most powerful media entities, boasting fancy futuristic booths, such as MBC Group's platform "Shahid", Rotana, Neom, and 140 exhibitors across different aspects of the media industry: production, broadcast, distribution, post-production, localization, advertising, and media technology. 

Stats coming out of participating entities at the Coproduction salon were pleasantly surprising: Very different than what we monitored at other exhibitions,  and summarized in the illustration below, here are some of the stats that stood out at the Co-Production Salon in Saudi Arabia's FOMEX:

Unlike previous editions, the footfall monitored at the Co-production Salon showed a whopping majority of attendees were Saudi entities. The remaining 10% minority comprised Arabic participants, mainly from Egypt and the Levant, and a very small number of international participants — mainly due to the event's Arabic nature, where most of the communication was in Arabic.

As expected, the majority (35%) of those who expressed interest in the Coproduction Salon were curious entities looking to gain access to the existing network of participants. These were a mix of service providers, such as media Tech companies, Dubbing houses, and a large number of education seekers such as fresh talent and start-up producers.  

A quarter of the participants at the co-production salon came with the objective of finding co-production partners in the truest sense: They submitted samples of their projects and met the Salon's participation criteria, specifically that their projects were at least 10% funded, and they were all vetted companies with a proven track record in producing tradable video assets.

14% percent of approved participants were broadcast companies, including TV networks and OTT platforms, in search of content partnerships for commissioning projects or even straightforward acquisitions.

 We were pleasantly surprised by two standout statistics: Firstly, a relatively high percentage (16%) of approved participants at the coproduction salon were brand representatives, and also a higher than usual percentage (10%) of Independent investors were present in this market compared to our previous editions. 

The two statistics we've monitored reaffirm that Saudi Arabia is regarded as the leading country in the MENA region for large-scale independent enterprises, notably in the F&B and retail sectors, as well as the burgeoning events sector. Numerous Saudi business owners initially attended the Co-production Salon with the intention of finding producers to craft creative advertising campaigns for their flourishing products and services. While many achieved this objective, the compelling development was their subsequent realization of the far greater potential of product placement and brand integration of their products and services within movies and series,  which became apparent after consultations with the seasoned TV and film producers that the CoProduction Salon hosts.

Feedback received from non-Arabic-speaking international entities that participated in the first edition of this collaborative initiative was unanimous: the event was excellent for networking, but it was difficult to navigate because everything was in Arabic. For future editions, the international community expressed that they would definitely love to visit again, but with more pre-arranged meetings, and they would also appreciate more English-language communication before, during, and after the event.

In conclusion, the inaugural Co-production Salon at FOMEX in Riyadh has set a promising precedent, particularly highlighting the leading role of Saudi Arabia in the MENA region's entertainment industry. With an overwhelming majority of Saudi participants, the salon underscored the region's appetite for co-production partnerships and content innovation. The presence of a diverse mix of entities, from curious newcomers to established broadcasters, indicates a vibrant and evolving media landscape. As we look forward to the next edition, we aim to strengthen partnerships with Saudi entities and address the feedback from the international community for more inclusive and accessible communication. The Co-production Salon is poised to become an even more influential space for fostering collaboration and driving investment in Arabic content