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Ti22 Films to launch online entertainment channel

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A new interactive online channel – Dubai ON Demand – is set to launch on YouTube in early 2015, bringing together some of Dubai’s most well known presenters and personalities. Produced by Ti22 Films, Dubai ON Demand will upload short clips ranging from health and fitness, to make-up, celebrity gossip and sports.

The faces of Dubai ON Demand will include: fashion designer Tamara Al Gabbani; food author, presenter and entrepreneur Dalia Dogmoch; TV presenter Aishwarya Ajit Gordon; British TV presenter, MC and actor Layne Redman; ‘comedy juggernaut’ Nitin Mirani; celebrity correspondent Dina Butti; TV presenter and radio broadcaster Tom Urqhart; founding presenter and writer of ‘Out and About’ Punam Verma and director and producer Faraz Jayed.

“I knew that the industry was moving towards digital and had been following trends in the US; seeing the shift through my company Ti22 Films, I reached out to a group of personalities in the region, many of whom I had worked with before while executive producing at Dubai One,” says Reim El Houni, Executive Producer and Managing Director, Ti22 Films. “Each person saw the vision I was trying to create for the channel and joined the team to create for the channel and develop Dubai ON Demand. The vision is to create an English online platform that becomes the must-watch channel for expats in Dubai and the UAE. Dubai ON Demand will be very interactive, encouraging viewers to record and send in relevant clips to be used as content for different segments. Our goal is to build a community who, gradually through their engagement, will start to experience the activities we are filming alongside us. The timing for this project is perfect, as it comes at a time when Dubai One has shifted its strategy towards acquisition and ended local production – we are ready to fill that gap and cater to that audience.”

DPP Motion launches MEA and Asia video library

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Dubai-based DPP Motion has become the first stock library to specialise in footage exclusively from the emerging markets of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, offering content to production companies, broadcasters, advertising agencies and other media. Featuring 4K footage, aerials and time lapses, the DPP Motion video library has been built by a team of locally-based video producers, and provides up-to-date creative and editorial footage depicting vibrant and dynamic life from places often undocumented by other video libraries, including the UAE, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Georgia, India, Malaysia, Namibia, Vietnam, Madagascar and China. Stock video can be instantly and securely purchased online at DPP Motion’s website, and is powered by Amazon’s latest cloud technology (AWS).

“With globalisation, the world is getting smaller and historical and geographical borders are becoming increasingly insignificant,” says Dalia Penzik, Managing Director, DPP Motion. “However, very little video content exists in any real breadth or depth from these areas. There are many countries that are ideal locations for today’s media uses – whether for advertising, feature films, editorial use, corporate videos or e-publishing – but a large number are difficult to access due to challenging terrain, bureaucratic access issues or security concerns. We are making this high quality material readily available, as well as offering a simple online payment system. Our team comprises professional video producers with extensive, first-hand experience of the regions we cover, so we can assure that the footage we are offering accurately depicts current content that can be used for either editorial or commercial purposes. The library was built following in-depth research on the latest business demands and trends of the markets we aim to serve, so we really understand the needs of production companies, broadcasters, advertising agencies and other media makers.”

Facebook enhances its options for mobile app ads

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Facebook has added new buying, creative and targeting options to its mobile app ads. From this week, advertisers will be able to buy Facebook mobile app ads with highly predictable reach and frequency, allowing advertisers to boost awareness whilst controlling how often someone sees an ad.

According to the official blog post from the social media platform, with the increasing value of video at every stage of the buying cycle, video mobile app ads will now be played automatically in Facebook’s news feed, with advertisers given the option to purchase mobile app ads with video creative through Power Editor. Finally, the blog post confirms that device targeting on Facebook has been extended to include Amazon Fire tablets.

HOT Media to publish Atlantis magazine

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HOT Media is set to publish the official magazine of Atlantis, The Palm. With the debut issue scheduled for the first quarter of 2015, the luxury-focused magazine will be the exclusive in-room publication of the hotel and its forthcoming residences. The magazine will be published quarterly and have an initial print run of 20,000 copies, with Chinese and Russian language editions planned for later in 2015.

“Atlantis, The Palm is a truly unique resort hotel and known throughout the world,” says Victoria Thatcher, Managing Director, HOT Media. “It’s an exciting opportunity for us to create a beautiful publication that expertly reflects the hotel’s iconic standing and mass luxury offering.”

Active announces results of Digital Trends Report

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PR and communications agency Hotwire and Active PR have announced the launch of the first Digital Trends Report 2014 for the Middle East region. The first dedicated Digital Trends Report for the Middle East comprises of eight key trends for the region when it comes to digital communications, with this year’s theme for the report centred on ‘The Year of Reflection’. Main highlights of 2014, as well as what organisations, brands and technophiles should be looking forward to in 2015 are covered. The Digital Trends Report will be published annually.

The eight digital trends for 2014 are as follows –

  1. Politics finds its voice: Active and Hotwire take it back to 2011, when we were getting started with social media. As the younger Arab generation comes of age politically and the region continues its transition from autocracy and dynasty to representative government, the impact of social media will have a permanent political impact, perhaps more than in any other region.
  2. Social media in school: Whose responsibility is it to educate children on the pros and cons of social media? Should social media education be added to the curriculum? These are questions we expect to be raised more in 2014 and beyond.
  3. Cultural sensitivity: Communications in the Middle Eastern region is a different ballgame from the West, so how do you express opinions or communicate on social media without breaking the law or common courtesy? This chapter highlights what the rules and protocols are when communicating publicly on social media and what private users and organisations should be aware of.
  4. Death of anonymity: How safe is our personal information online? What should or shouldn’t we share?
  5. Data for the moment: How did brands leverage Dubai’s bid for Expo 2020 to their own benefit? Were they creative while doing so? This report looks at how brands should understand their social data and base their social media campaigns on that.
  6. From customers to consumers: It is likely that customer service teams and community management will merge in 2014/2015. Customer service teams will lose their reputation for starched-collar-stuffiness, while community managers will gain authority to act on behalf not just of the brand, but also of the organisation.
  7. Digitisation of retail: Frictionless digital technology has the potential to delete the middleman. We expect to see retailers move upstream and become content and product manufacturers, and downstream to own mobile and television.
  8. But how much? The upcoming year will be a breakthrough year for campaign measurement and in the establishment of standards for measuring social media focused activity.

“We’re very excited to present our first Digital Trends Report for the Middle East,” says Fatima el Malki, Digital Communications Manager, Active PR. “Through many interactions and conversations with our clients and fellow specialists in the fields of communications, public affairs and technology, we noticed a lack of thought leadership focused on digital. Reading reports and articles comprising of various percentages on social media behaviour are educational, but our report focuses on how to leverage on these trends as a brand or communications professional.”

Sawsan Ghanem, Editor of the report and Managing Partner at Active PR adds, “Digital is literally changing the way we all look at things and the way we behave. The Digital Trends Report 2014 is designed to provide a taste and insight into how much of an impact digital communications has on society, both worldwide and in the Middle East.”

Al Jazeera launches Palestine Remix

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In commemoration of the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Al Jazeera Media Network has launched Palestine Remix. The interactive website will allow users access to some of Al Jazeera’s best documentaries on Palestine, and enables people to cut-and-paste footage to tell stories and share it immediately through different social media platforms. The remix tool is a built-in simplistic video editing software that allows users to build their short films in minutes. The project also contains interactive maps and timelines, granting users a better understanding of the Palestinian issue and the opportunity to contextualise it.

“This project is not just about telling the important story of Palestine,” says Rawan Damen, Project Manager, Palestine Remix. “It’s about creating new ones. We want to give you a new way to understand, tell and share stories about Palestine. That why we’ve created Palestine Remix – to put the power of storytelling into your hands.”

The database provides the user the ability to watch full documentaries with their full transcripts, allowing the visitor to click on a word in the transcript and go directly to the specific point in the film. The user can also pick and choose, as well as mix and match the extracts of different films, view full films, or search the full transcripts using any word, name, place or concept. The database contains 84 hours in four languages, with more than 250 people, 580 places and a timeline that spans 215 years. It also provides drone footage of iconic places in historic Palestine – Jerusalem, Acre, Gaza and many others.

Palestine Remix is the first of its kind on the Palestinian issues, has a version specifically for mobile users and will be a mobile app before the end of 2014.

Google tests ad-free subscriptions

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Google has launched a new service, which allows users the option to pay to prevent advertisements appearing on sites. Known as the Google Contributor, it enables users to subscribe as little as one (US) dollar per month to avoid ads popping up whilst browsing online.

Users can choose to subscribe between $1 and $3 each month to remove all Google-served ads on participating websites, though any third-party advertising on select sites will remain. The ads are then replaced with a small message, which thanks the user for being a contributor, and the space is filled instead with a pixelated pattern. On mobile devices, there is an option to have them removed entirely.

The Google Contributor service is beginning with 10 publishing partners, including Imgur, WikiHow, Mashable and Science Daily.

Apple brings programmatic to iAd

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Apple is partnering with a number of ad tech companies to bring programmatic buying to iAd, Apple’s mobile ad network. Allowing advertisers to automate ad buys and reporting across 250,000 iOS apps, Apple’s new partners include MediaMath, The Trade Desk, GET IT Mobile, Accordant Media, AdRoll and Adelphic. Apple has released an updated API for its automated buying platform iAd Workbench to power programmatic, ensuring that partners can use their own systems for managing campaigns and bids, including viewing and retrieving analytic data.

“We’re thrilled to have been chosen by Apple to help bring automation to iAd’s direct order business and to provide access to premium mobile buyers from around the world,” says Gregory R. Raifman, President, Rubicon Project. “We look forward to providing buyers with access to iAd’s unprecedented audience targeting capabilities and our full-stack direct order automation solution.”

Adam Berke, President and CMO of AdRoll adds, “AdRoll has a long history of being first to market with new inventory sources and innovative functionality. We’re excited to bring the power, precision and scale of programmatic buying to a high quality, in-demand inventory source. AdRoll is committed to bringing developers and advertisers of all sizes cross-device solutions for a world gone mobile.”

As of 2013, iAd accounted for 2.7% of the US mobile ad market ad market, while Apple’s share of the country’s smartphone market sat at 40%.

Haute Time magazine to launch in the UAE

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Haute Time is set to launch a UAE edition of the magazine in January 2015. Published biannually, the luxury lifestyle magazine will be unveiled before the SIHH Watch Show and will act as the preeminent resource for the luxury watch and jewellery industry in the Middle East.

With a total UAE distribution of 15,000, Haute Time UAE will be available in print across various venues, as well as digitally on iPad, iPhone and Android. Offering readers and advertisers specialised content from global editors on the watch and jewellery market, cars and fashion, the magazine’s Dubai-based editors will additionally cover everything concerning the Middle Eastern market, including major fashion and luxury events, the best restaurants and the latest hotels.

With an accompanying platform – www.hautetime.ae – this will be updated daily with news from the UAE, as well as first-rate watch editorial from global editors.

“We are very excited to launch in the UAE, as six years ago we had the luxury of featuring Mohamed Alabbar, Founder and Chairman of Emaar Properties on our cover as he was building the Burj Khalifa,” says Seth Semilof, Publisher, Haute Living and Haute Time magazine. ““We have been in love with the UAE ever since we started our Hauteliving.com blog in the country with Rebecca Anne Proctor 3 years ago. With the site’s great readership in the region, it was natural for us to launch Haute Time, a biannual book showcasing everything relating to luxury taking place in the UAE. It will have the same powerful distribution that has made Haute Time so famous in the US.”

Al Jazeera to build global media cloud

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Al Jazeera Media Network has secured a deal with telecommunications provider Ooredoo to build a global media cloud which will connect its international bureaus. Signed at Al Jazeera’s Doha headquarters, the cloud will allow the network to connect with its main hubs in Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia and Africa, as well as linking with its 70 bureaus around the world. The media cloud will enable Al Jazeera to share videos, reports and breaking news with its editorial teams instantly, aiding preparation for broadcast on the network’s news channels.

“One of Al Jazeera Media Network’s objectives is to become a world class network operation,”  says Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani, Chairperson, Al Jazeera. “This global media cloud project and initiative will help the network achieve this goal by bringing the journalists and editorial workforce on a common communication platform. This partnership with Ooredoo will leverage the news capabilities of the channel and enhance user experience.”

Ooredoo Chairperson, Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al Thani adds, “Al Jazeera is a globally-recognised brand, and Ooredoo is proud to be building infrastructure that will enable the company to take its coverage to the next level. In winning this competitive bid against some of the world’s largest technology companies, we are showing that Ooredoo is a world-class provider of cutting-edge business solutions.”