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The global broadcasting, media, and satellite industries will gather once again in Dubai this week at CABSAT 2021, the Middle East and Africa’s most important exhibition and conference for the satellite, broadcast, and filmed content industries and the broader sector’s first in-person meeting since 2019.
Taking place at Dubai World Trade Centre from 26th-28th October, CABSAT 2021 will explore the world of media, satellite, content, and tech, covering features from satellite solutions to set-top-boxes that can stream content offline, to video analytics and content protection, and more.
CABSAT 2021 has attracted the biggest names in the business including Arabsat, which will celebrate its 45th anniversary at the show, as well as AsiaSat, Broadcast Solutions, Draka, France24, Gazprom Space Systems, Nilesat - which is readying for the launch of its new satellite - Thomson Broadcasting, Evertz Microsystems, Turksat and many more. They will demonstrate a vast range of innovation across the full content journey from creation, through production, to distribution. The show will also feature dedicated pavilions representing Bavaria, Great Britain, and Northern Ireland.
CABSAT 2021 will feature three dedicated, free-to-attend forums: Content Congress, SatExpo Summit, and NextGen Content, and will hear from experts including Ibrahim Al Qasim, Executive Director Space Sector, UAE Space Agency and Siddharth Roy Kapur, the leading film producer, and Founder and MD of Roy Kapur Films and President of the Producers Guild of India, whose filmography includes some of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time.
SatExpo Summit: The Next Frontier & Seeing Red
The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) has reported the commercial satellite industry set new growth records in 2020 with more satellites than ever - almost 1,200 - being launched and the sector witnessing increased capital investment in commercial space ventures. By the end of 2020, the number of satellites circling the earth increased by 37% on 2019 to a total of 3,371.
Leading global space and satellite industry executives, engineers, government officials, and solution providers will explore emerging business opportunities and innovations and challenges at the SatExpo Summit, which takes place a year after the UAE became the first Arab nation to reach Mars when its ‘Hope Probe’ mission reached the red planet’s orbit. The line-up includes representatives of Yahsat, AWS, SAMENA Telecommunications Council, Swedish Space Corporation, Panasonic Avionics, Intelsat, Eutelsat, Turksat and Arabsat, who will outline how space and satellite technology is playing a pivotal role in cross-sector evolution spanning government and military, commercial business enterprise, mobile communication, maritime and space sectors.
Content is king
At CABSAT 2021’s Content Congress, visionaries impacting the content of providers across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, India, and Scandinavia will compare thoughts, progress ideas, brainstorm future content and explore delivery mechanisms that will keep the industry at the cutting-edge of technology and competitiveness. The line-up includes representatives of some of the biggest names in the business including Twitter, Facebook, OSN, Kenyan Television Network, MBC, and Zee Broadcasting, as well as HE Aduku Armstrong Idachabo, Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission of Nigeria.
Outlooks: MENA Builds Back
PwC’s global entertainment and media industries’ outlook shows that within the Middle East and North Africa, the pandemic had a major impact on cinema box office takings. The outlook forecasts the sector will bounce back with regional entertainment and media revenues rising by 3% to 2024 – slightly ahead of the global 2% average. The report also predicts the major winners will be digital entertainment led by ‘over the top’ streaming video services such as Netflix, MBC’s Shahid and Dubai-based Starzplay Arabia, gaming and digital music, with revenues rising at an accelerated pace of 12.3% annually to 2024 with pay-TV forecast to grow by only 0.6% in the same period.
Digital TV Research has forecast the number of streaming subscriptions in Africa will triple over the next five years, with the continent reaching 15.06 million streaming-on-demand subscriptions by 2026. South Africa and Nigeria will lead the march with each contributing more than a million subscribers.
NextGen Content: Seeing Is Believing
With content scouts always looking to seal the next big film and audio ideas, CABSAT 2021 will celebrate the best the Middle East and Africa has to offer at NextGen Content - a marketplace for content creators, distributors, and buyers. NextGen Content will feature leading industry minds and talent with box office and top streaming contenders being screened for review. A prestigious seven-strong NEXTGen Advisory Board will steer content screenings from all areas of TV, film, serial drama, kids, documentary, and sport through an exhibition floor, with pre-arranged content buyers’ meetings and dedicated networking events boosting business collaborations.
“Faced with disrupted consumption patterns, the broadcast and content industries are rethinking their business models, introducing new subscription-based digital formats, leveraging direct relationships with consumers, and monetising content rather than relying solely on advertising. The disruption is leading to seismic shifts in the way the sector operates,” said Thomas Löffler, Assistant Vice President, Exhibitions, DWTC. “With industry players looking to build scale through geographic expansion as well as a robust local content inventory, CABSAT 2021 carries unique opportunities to initiate strategic partnerships that will be crucial to future competitiveness.”
