Abu Dhabi: hot spot for TV production

Despite having enough oil to last at least another 100 years, Abu Dhabi is working hard to diversify its economy. The capital of the United Arab Emirates, like neighbouring emirate Dubai, has invested in financial services and tourism. But it also wants to become the region’s hub for culture and media.

The first Abu Dhabi Media Summit, held last year and opened by Newscorp chief executive and president Rupert Murdoch, was a sign of the emirate’s ambition to become a base for media companies seeking to do business in the region.

One of the backers of the invite-only event was Twofour54, an Abu Dhabi government-backed media and entertainment business that launched towards the end of 2008. Twofour54’s facilities arm, Intaj, was launched one year later.

Twofour54 deputy chief executive and chief operating officer Wayne Borg says the Intaj facilities are a first for the region. “We are completely aligned with the rest of the world. The infrastructure we have here is second to none in the region.”

Head of Twofour54 Intaj Hasan Sayed Hasan describes the range of services as “comprehensive”. “The facility is mainly for broadcast media, and all of the studios are equipped for high-definition productions, while the post-production facilities offer high-end colour grading. We also offer digitising, media management and playout facilities [see box].”

Twofour54 is keen to work with production companies from around the world, and Hasan says it is willing “to facilitate and explore” opportunities for programme-making and commissions in the region. “There is a young demographic and to date there has been an over-reliance on imported programmes, so there is a real opportunity to create local content,” he says.

Comedy is described as a “huge” area of interest, together with light entertainment, factual and programmes for children and teenagers.

“Our role is facilitation. We have strong links with broadcasters across the region and we understand what they are looking for. Through that, we provide opportunities for production companies based here to brief and pitch for those commissions,” says Hasan.

Making the move

One UK production company that has made the move to Abu Dhabi is Twofour Group, which 18 months ago based its Twofour Arabia division at the Twofour54 campus (despite the similar names, there is no other commercial connection between the UAE and UK businesses).

Also in place are Fox Middle East, Bloomberg, Financial Times, CNN and Sky News Arabia, which will begin broadcasting in the second quarter of next year.

“We are very much a factual entertainment company and we wouldn’t break out in to new formats, but there are opportunities in terms of our own formats in the Middle East and there are branded content opportunities,” says Twofour Group managing director Mark Hawkins.

In October, Twofour Arabia won its first broadcast commission. Footsteps Of Thesiger is a single doc following adventurer Adrian Hayes as he retraces the footsteps of 20th century explorer Wilfred Thesiger, who twice crossed the Empty Quarter, a vast desert to the south of Abu Dhabi. It will air in the UAE in February.

“We see a lot of branded content and corporate opportunities in the Middle East,” says Hawkins. Twofour Arabia is working with Abu Dhabi government-owned Mubadala Development Company, Mubadala subsidiary energy firm Masdar and the Federal National Council, with funded programming to be announced next year.

Programme budgets in Abu Dhabi are 30-40% lower than in Europe, partly due to advertisers’ lack of confidence, according to Twofour54. Viewing figures have always been calculated using a diary system, but that is set to change next year when the UAE becomes the first country in the region to have set-top boxes installed in homes for audience measurement.

Borg says that for the first time, audiences will be measured in a robust and segmented manner, which should lead to a boost in programme budgets.

“It will give international advertisers confidence around data and ad spend, and it means broadcasters have to go after audiences to justify ads. That’s a virtuous circle we want,” he explains.

UK animation company 3Line Media opened an office in Abu Dhabi earlier  this year. It is working on the second series of Driver Dan’s Story Train, a children’s programme for CBeebies and Al-Jazeera that is being co-produced with Blink Films.

3Line Media co-founder Theresa Reed says one of the reasons for making the move to the UAE was to help reversion the series for a local audience. “We needed to work with a company that would understand the culture and help us to produce a genuinely Arabic version of Driver Dan,” says Reed.

The adaptation uses Arabic children on screen with adult Arabic talent for voices. “Intaj pulled together all the elements we needed to make it work, including green screen, picture and audio post. And, of course, Intaj knows and understands everything about Arabic culture.”

Borg says it will offer incentives to production firms that want to do business in Abu Dhabi. “It’s on a case-by-case basis, but we want them to have a base here and build a long-term, sustainable business. We are less interested in transience. We will look at what a company is doing on three levels: the number of people it brings to the region; the training opportunities it provides; and the content it plans to generate.

“The incentives could be to help with set-up costs and production costs. One of the obvious benefits of being here is working in a free zone, where companies can have 100% ownership of the business and no tax liability.”