New influencer policy comes into effect
The National Media Council (NMC)’s new influencer policy came into effect on June 1, 2019, to regulate the growing number of social influencers who are making commercial gains from the recently recognised career. All UAE-based influencers are now required to be registered and to flag paid posts and gifts accordingly to make the advertising of products and services more transparent.
Influencers have three options when obtaining an NMC license – which is now compulsory for all influencers making money, or accepting sizable gifts, while promoting brands and businesses. Category 1 is an individual license, best suited for high-profile individual influencers – they will require a separate business trade license in order to be considered for their NMC license. Category 2 is a partnership license – best suited to small groups of micro-influencers, where they would share a trade license. Category 3 is for influencers who are registered exclusively to official influencer agencies.
The first official Influencer agency to be permitted by the NMC to sign influencers under its umbrella is Motivate-VAMP – a joint partnership between Dubai’s Motivate Media Group and Australian-based Influencer Marketing platform, VAMP. The agency currently has over 400 registered influencers and expects these numbers to grow considerably over the coming months.
“We are delighted to be a part of this initiative and commend the NMC on introducing such comprehensive regulations to support all sectors of the influencer marketing industry in the UAE”, says Chris Capstick, General Manager – Connect, Motivate Media Group. “We have invested a lot of resources into the digital arena and both our partners at VAMP and our on-the-ground team in Dubai are looking forward to the exciting times that lay ahead.”