With the region's leading event for broadcast, satellite and content due to take place from 26th-28th October at Dubai World Trade Centre, CABSAT is set to provide an all-new online platform for broadcast media professionals to stay engaged with their industry.
CABSAT.virtual will host monthly webinar discussions that will shed light on the biggest challenges and opportunities that face the broadcast industry amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
The discussions will explore some of the unexpected opportunities that have emerged for the industry, and will give unrivalled insight on the ways that it can turn the current climate to its advantage.
CABSAT.virtual will feature live webinars, virtual conference sessions, interviews and training workshops and will give attendees the opportunity to engage with experts through interactive q&a sessions as part of the discussions.
The first webinar will take place on 5th May at 2pm UAE time, and will discuss a major opportunity - how to sustain the huge rise in subscriptions for streaming services since the start of the pandemic.
Webinar attendees will learn how to encourage users to remain engaged with content post-lockdown, whether pricing dynamics of the streaming industry will be put to the test, and whether overloaded internet bandwidth could impact the quality of gaming and streaming VoD.
The discussion will feature insight from experts including Sanjay Raina, the award–winning broadcast and media trailblazer and Executive Director, Commercial Department, Abu Dhabi Media; Nadine Samra, the woman behind the launch of the award-winning Arabic OTT platform and Chief Business Officer for Weyyak, Zee Entertainment; Saeed Sharaf, CEO, eSports Middle East, the fastest growing professional gaming agency in the MENA region, and Zahra Zayat, SVP, Digital, OTT and Telco, OSN, the Middle East's foremost entertainment network.
“Despite the pandemic of COVID 19, we are seeing a significant uptake in engagement and hours watched. Total hours consumed on our platform are more than 10 times what they used to be in March. There is a great appetite in the market and people are ready to consume more content by stacking services and jumping from one platform to another,” said Zahra Zayat, SVP-Digital, OTT and Telco, OSN.
Major OTT players have experienced a huge rise in demand for subscription-based streaming services, with half of the world’s population having been kept under lockdown amid the crisis.
VoD, online gaming and TV streaming services have all experienced a spike in usage. Verizon reported that US domestic peak-hour video gaming usage was up 75% in the first week of quarantine, while TV streaming viewership rose 85% over the first three weeks of March, compared to the same period in 2019.
“We are living in a very challenging time and in a situation that is unfamiliar to us all. While the health and safety of the people is the most important thing at the moment, the climate has enabled some businesses to thrive, namely through a surge in viewership and unique users in the VoD business. I can’t wait to share some insights from Weyyak and explore how this crisis is impacting the VoD business at the CABSAT.virtual discussion.” Nadine Samra, Chief Business Officer, Weyyak, Zee Entertainment, said.
The current climate has even forced Netflix to reduce its streaming quality in countries across the world in order to accommodate unprecedented demand for its services as its traffic reached all-time highs in March, while Amazon’s video game streaming platform Twitch saw a 31% growth in viewership in the same month.
Service providers are now faced with a challenge - finding innovative ways to make sure these numbers don’t drop off once everyday life resumes.
To tune into the live discussion on 5th May at 2pm (UAE time) or to submit a question to the panelists, visit: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7p4zbj75Ss-BNlFh7zLvKw?utm_campaign=030520%20-%20CABSAT%202020%20-%20Webinar%20EMD-02&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua
CABSAT, the region’s leading event for broadcast, satellite and content will be held from 26th-28th October at Dubai World Trade Centre.