Tecom adds 257 companies in Dubai

Dubai: Tecom added 257 new business partners into its media cluster to take the total number to 1,842 companies last year, said Mohammad Abdullah, managing director of Tecom Media Cluster.

Tecom’s Media Cluster includes Dubai Media City (DMC), Dubai Studio City (DSC) and International Media Production Zone (IMPZ).

“We are delighted that a significant number of businesses operating within our three business parks are expanding when a number of western markets are still in recovery mode,” he said.

He sad the DMC registered an occupancy rate of 93 per cent last year while the DSC registered 100 per cent and the IMPZ registered 70 per cent.

DSC is planning new projects this year to attract new companies.

Around 170 companies, including 70 freelancers, left the media cluster last year.

For the coming year, he said, “we would expect, in line with a number of industry forecasts, there to be a significant growth in mobile internet advertising across the region in line with an overall rebound across advertising in general.”

“We also expect an increase in transparency in the television advertising sector as new tools for audience measurement become more prevalent across the region. This should lead to greater investment as the industry has more clarity on how to monetise content,” Abdullah said.

DMC has added 199 new companies last year while DSC added 49 and IMPZ nine companies.

Thomson Reuters, which expanded its footprint within the DMC, said volume and velocity of information data has grown many times than in 1990s.

“A third of the content looked for across social media in the region is financial and economic data, and it is promising for Thomson Reuters,” said Russell Haworth, managing director of Thomson Reuters Mena.

DSC is launching two 25,000 sq feet soundstages and 100,000 sq. feet of workspace this year.

“DSC completed the first of its three soundstages, a 15,000 square feet, last year in partnership with MBC Group,” Abdullah said.

The major impact of this, he said will be a strong business case for production support service companies to relocate to DSC, as the increase in content creation “taking place will provide a valuable source” of demand for production services.