Dubai: Viacom Inc, the US multimedia giant, will be expanding its Arabic language content as it looks for a deeper connection with audiences in the Middle East and a market that it is assigning the “highest priority”.

Early next year, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) will start having local language content for its Nickelodeon HD channel (home to the eternally popular Spongebob Squarepants and more recently that of The Legend of Korra among others) through its Dubai Media City base. The channel will be available exclusively through OSN, the pay-TV operator, as part of a deal that was announced on Thursday that also includes Nick Jr. and MTV Live HD.

A senior VIMN official confirmed the process will not be confined to offering dubbed versions of its international programmes or having Arabic subtitles on them. There will be ample scope for “locally generated content”, said Raffaele Annecchino, Executive Vice-President and Managing Director for South Europe, Middle East and Africa, VIMN. “We will follow the “glocal” strategy in the Middle East and we have been meeting some companies that can provide us with the local content opportunities.” The localisation play will apply to both animated as well as live-action content.

Also, early in 2015, Viacom will be introducing a Nickelodeon app that will aid its viewers watch content on multiple platforms, which is sort of the in thing to do these days. Additional offerings related to Viacom content will be introduced through a “second phase”.

Some of the leading global broadcasters are taking the same approach on widening their Arabic language offerings, seen as a must in a strategic market such as Saudi Arabia.

Discovering new music

Despite stiff competition from new-age platforms such as smartphones and tablets, TV consumption still retains its considerable clout in the region. For instance, when it comes to discovering new music, TV programming is still the number one source for the millennials (the generation born in the 1980s and later) and ahead of radio and social media, according to Annecchino. (Regional TV broadcasters seem to be in broad agreement about the inherent clout for the medium, having just raised their rate cards for 2015, though there are multiple packages at special rates that can interest advertisers, according to Ikon Media, a Dubai-based agency.)

“There remains a strong appreciation among the young for live and exclusive music and music events that MTV specialises in and produces around the world,” said Annecchino. “Having MTV Live in HD through OSN from January is a great step in taking the channel’s reach to its core audience.”

Apart from the channels that it will have on OSN, there are other synergies that Viacom is seeking with it. Selling Nickelodeon branded toys and gaming through OSN’s network of 200 locations is a possibility, according to Emad Morcos, Senior Vice-President for Business Development, Strategy and Digital at OSN.

Annecchino added that a standalone Nickelodeon store in the UAE is a live possibility and which would add to the one in Riyadh. As of now there are only a further two outlets, in London and Panama.