Dubai: A yacht full of media decision-makers cruised along the Dubai Marina on October 5 for the OTTRED Soirée at Sea, the evening that opened CABSAT week. Gulf News partnered with OTTRED for this event to shine a spotlight on the fast-changing world of media in the Middle East.
Guests on-board either ran or shaped streaming platforms, or represented broadcasters, producers, telcos, technology suppliers and investors. What followed were conversations about the business that weren’t limited to the UAE, but captured the media landscape in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq, India and beyond.
OTTRED is a global community of media professionals that has been bringing together people from the media, streaming and entertainment business for the past 15 years. The aim was simple: a place where the people behind the screens could know each other, learn from each other and look out for each other. It has since grown into a business that serves the wider industry.
The app now counts more than 2,000 members across 68 countries and six continents. They represent more than 1,200 employers. Chris Redmond, OTTRED’s founder and RedHolt’s CEO, reports that members logged over 3,500 hours on it in the past year, a 78 per cent jump. Professionals, he says, treat it as the new ‘Facebook for media’.
The yacht reflected a sector that rarely sits still. Raghav Anand, who leads media work at EY-Parthenon, claimed that the industry reinvents itself every six months. He spoke of how connected TV, creators and gaming are all pushing beyond borders today. A gathering like this, he argues, changes how business gets done in the region.
Subscription squeeze
The clearest sign of that churn sits in viewers’ wallets. Melvin Saldanha, SVP Technology at OSN, has worked in regional pay-TV and sport for 25 years. He now pays for five streaming services himself. His wife wants different shows, his son wants football, and he wants cricket. The rights sit on different platforms.
Saldanha remembers how there was once a time when one set-top box covered everything. Today, he says, the same viewer drifts across ten. He estimates 30 per cent of viewers keep a phone in hand while the TV runs.
Khaled Zaatarah, CEO of VUZ, tops that with more than seven subscriptions. VUZ ranks first among them, naturally. His company holds what he calls the largest library of immersive experiences in the world, covering sport, education and entertainment. Viewers can act as their own director and look in any direction as if they stood at the event.
Both men go ad-free. Zaatarah argues that paying for content helps the ecosystem. Saldanha picks premium so he can watch uncut. But he is no purist, “The model exists for everybody,” he says, from ad-free premium to cheaper tiers with some ads to free tiers loaded with them.
Behind the screen sits the software. Clare Butler, VP of Marketing at Synamedia, explains the plumbing. Her company builds online video platforms for OTT streaming, along with monetisation tools. They help broadcasters, rights holders and pay-TV operators win audiences, keep them and cut running costs. She sketches the typical evening: vertical video on the commute, then a TV interface full of apps and on-demand services at home.
Who reads the news in 2030
AI came up in every conversation, and the answers split along familiar lines.
Saldanha calls himself a big AI advocate. He still wants a human anchor in 2030. Trust between presenter and audience, he says, will not transfer to a machine. For nearly everything else, he expects AI agents to change habits sharply.
Anand offers a hybrid. Keep the human anchor, he suggests, and let AI dub the voice into 150 languages. Zaatarah said either would work as long as the message lands. Heba Korayem was less sure about 2030. She half-joked about putting an avatar of herself on screen.
Korayem founded Co-Production Salon, which connects the region’s largest production houses across 22 Arab countries with platforms and investors. She reads the business as an investor does, by commercial feasibility rather than virality. In her view, AI is cutting production costs sharply. Arabic content gets cheaper to make and travels faster.
Ask guests what they would hand to AI first and the answers stayed practical. Anand would give it the decks and deal structures. He keeps the client meetings, which he calls the fun part. Korayem already outsources admin and design. She will not outsource human connection, which she calls the core of her work.
What wins: reach or recognition
On viral clips versus award-winning documentaries, Zaatarah refused to pick. He wants viral reach and awards, and he wants records this year. Anand chose the viral clip. He would still like to be known for some of the media's bigger deals.
Then came one word for the future of media. Zaatarah gave two: “immersive and interactive”. Anand answered “transformative”. Saldanha expects viewing to multiply across more screens, with fewer dedicated devices. Watches may cast to any display, and picture quality will climb through 4K, 8K and 16K. Korayem said the future will surprise everyone.