Abu Dhabi: The UAE’s publishing sector grew 150 per cent in the current decade, and is set to reach $650 million in 2030, according to a report.
The country’s digital music segment is likely to reach revenues of $62 million this year, hitting a projected market value of $89 million in 2026, data from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) showed.
According to another set of estimates, by Niko Partners, the UAE’s entertainment industry will grow at a CAGR of 9 per cent from 2021 to 2028, while the value of the games market in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt will increase to $3.14 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 13.8 per cent over five years.
Investment opportunities
The Ministry of Economy, in a report titled “Investing in Media and Entertainment in the UAE”, has highlighted how Dubai Media City has a business environment that includes nearly 33,000 specialists in the media sector and more than 122 channels. Moreover, the Free Media Zone in Abu Dhabi hosts over 600 companies, 130 entrepreneurs and over 5,000 media specialists.
The report also noted that the Yas Creative Hub will have more than 16,000 employees in 2031, as part of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s strategy worth over Dh30 billion.
The Sharjah Media City (Shams) witnessed significant growth in 2021, and its registered companies increased in number to 5,689 while 4,293 companies renewed their licences in the same year.
Global growth
The value of the global media and entertainment services sector is estimated to grow to $2.4 trillion next year, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.8 per cent since 2015, according to PWC figures.
The report expects the sector to grow by a CAGR of 5 per cent from 2020 to 2025, amounting to $2.6 trillion, noting that the web content, search portals and social media segments will achieve gains totalling $542.2 billion in global annual sales while the TV broadcasting segment will achieve gains of $79.2 billion, the movies and video segment of $83.3 billion, and newspapers and magazines publishers of $32.6 billion.
Specialist reports on the sector have also highlighted the growing international share of AI. According to Analytics Insight, the contribution of AI in 2022 is expected to grow at 30 per cent at $8.4 billion, while Grandview Research estimates the international AI market to grow by $99.48 billion by 2030.
