Abu Dhabi brings together global media and content leaders at Bridge Summit 2025 today

Nations from around the world converge today in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, as the inaugural edition of the Bridge Summit officially kicks off—marking the world’s largest global event dedicated to the media, content, and entertainment sectors.

The summit hosts 60,000 participants from 132 countries, with 430 speakers from 45 nations, including leading creatives, policymakers, investors, technology experts, media institutions, and cultural leaders. Over 300 panels and events will be delivered, positioning the summit as a pivotal milestone for the global media ecosystem and the future of the content industry worldwide.

Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Butti Al Hamed, Chairman of the Bridge Alliance, welcomed participants to the Bridge Summit 2025, which opens today in Abu Dhabi and will run for three days.

Al Hamed stated that the summit seeks to solidify its influential role in the global media industry as a bridge for cooperation and interaction among diverse communities. He emphasized that the growth and prosperity of media and content directly reflect societal progress, enhance mutual understanding and peace, and contribute to building a sustainable and balanced future for all. 

He added that media professionals, institutional leaders, and content creators are welcomed as guests of Bridge to engage in dialogue and exchange visions and ideas—at a time when humanity is in critical need of unified and integrated efforts to confront major global challenges. These challenges, he stressed, can only be addressed through collective international action, particularly within the media sector, which plays a central role in shaping awareness and building the future.

Al Hamed concluded by noting that in today’s interconnected world, no one is immune to the transformations sweeping across the media and content sector, underscoring the importance of aligning visions and joint efforts to harness these changes in support of sustainable and equitable development, while strengthening responsible media in service of humanity.

Dr. Jamal Mohammed Obaid Al Kaabi, Vice Chairman of the Bridge Alliance, described the launch of the summit’s first edition as a practical step toward building a more transparent and resilient media space. He explained that this diverse international convergence of media institutions, decision-makers, and experts grants the summit an advanced global standing as a new platform uniting key stakeholders at one of the most transformative periods in media history.

He pointed out that the changes sweeping through the media sector today are both profound and rapid, making institutional readiness, adaptability, and access to the right tools a matter of strategic survival. He noted that the Bridge Summit was established to lead these discussions in a practical manner—through open dialogues that directly address challenges, explore future opportunities, and rebuild bridges of trust and partnership among media entities worldwide.

Dr. Al Kaabi concluded by emphasizing that the summit provides a shared working space to establish stronger partnerships, develop innovative cooperation models, leverage ongoing transformations for mutual benefit, and ensure a media sector that serves its communities with clarity and responsibility.

Richard Attias, Strategic Adviser to the Chairman of the Alliance, confirmed that the Bridge Summit will deliver something rare in the global media scene, stepping beyond the familiar and conventional. He noted that in an era where global narratives are fragmented, manipulated, and reshaped by algorithms rather than by people, Bridge confronts an uncomfortable reality: the world urgently needs a new media system built on trust.

Attias added that the Bridge Summit refuses to simply build upon the past as it is. Instead, it calls for a fundamental rethinking of power, influence, impact, and responsibility in an age where content can either build trust or destroy it. The summit, he said, pushes boundaries, exposes the gap between the media we have and the media we truly need, and seeks not merely to discuss the future—but to fundamentally reshape its trajectory by designing new frameworks for trust, truth, and influence.

Maryam bin Fahd, Chief Executive Officer of the Bridge Alliance, stated that the summit launches in Abu Dhabi at a moment when the media and content sector urgently requires a serious reassessment of its direction. The broad participation in this inaugural edition reflects a global recognition of the industry as a powerful driver of knowledge, economic growth, and cultural identity.

She explained that the diversity represented at the event offers a genuine opportunity to understand the real transformations shaping the sector, and the reforms required to create a more balanced, innovative environment capable of representing diverse voices.

She added that the Bridge Summit serves as an open laboratory for ideas, bringing together policymakers, creatives, investors, and technology experts to lay the foundations for a more transparent media ecosystem—one capable of serving societies and forging a new developmental path for the industry. She acknowledged that the media and content world today faces major challenges.

Bin Fahd concluded by stating that the Bridge Alliance believes that shaping a new future for media begins with expanding effective partnerships. What begins tomorrow, she said, is a global open workshop aimed at designing a model that empowers societies to produce content that reflects them and serves their interests.