Bridge 2025 Summit: Transforming media, sports, and entertainment into a sustainable economy

The Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) hosted today (Tuesday) the second day of the Bridge 2025 Summit, the world’s largest and most diverse event in the fields of media, content, entertainment, and sports, with extensive participation from industry pioneers and leaders of international institutions.

The Summit launched a strategic platform to envision the future of media and sports, and to amplify the contribution of creative sectors in supporting a sustainable economy, in line with the UAE’s vision for developing a robust creative economy ecosystem.

The event comes at a time when the global media landscape is undergoing rapid transformation—particularly sports media, which increasingly relies on advanced technologies, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and digital content platforms, alongside the rise of e-sports as a massive economic sector attracting global investments and millions of followers worldwide.

The first day of the Summit welcomed a distinguished lineup of global sports and media figures, reaffirming its position as a leading platform for shaping the future of sports media.

Among the most prominent speakers was Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, the world’s most recognized authority on football transfers. Tomorrow and the following day will feature the participation of elite global figures including Arsène Wenger, FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, and former Spanish international Gerard Piqué, one of the most influential innovators in sports content and modern sporting events. Their presence adds significant value to the Summit’s sports track.

Sessions on the opening day highlighted the expanding economic and cultural significance of sports media, driven by the global shift toward digital content, live streaming, AI-powered analytics, and the integration of augmented and virtual reality in sports programming and advanced analysis.

The Summit provides a broad space for discussing new models of sports media by investing in high-quality content and maximizing commercial returns from digital rights, advertising partnerships, fan-generated content, smart applications, and interactive experiences—strengthening the sector’s long-term sustainability.

The discussions further showcased how artificial intelligence is transforming sports analysis, enhancing the efficiency of visual content, and enabling interactive engagement platforms between fans and sports teams—ultimately elevating the marketing value of the sports industry and attracting greater investment.

The e-sports track is a major pillar of Bridge 2025, especially with the participation of ChinaJoy, Asia’s largest gaming exhibition, marking its first-ever appearance outside East Asia.

Its pavilion features 19 exhibitors representing leading global developers of digital games, offering exclusive showcases, innovative experiences, and the launch of new platforms, along with expanded opportunities for international distribution and intellectual property commercialization.

This track explores topics such as metaverse world design, the development of e-sports and digital sports, and business models that support this rapidly expanding sector—whose global market size exceeds USD 200 billion, according to recent reports from the Global Games Market 2025.

A distinguished group of game developers, digital content creators, and technology investment experts are also among the speakers.

The Summit spans over 1.65 million square feet, across seven strategic tracks: media, advanced technologies, content, music, marketing, e-sports, and the creative industries.

It is expected to attract more than 60,000 participants from 132 countries, alongside 430 speakers, 1,200 senior executives, and over 300 exhibitors across the media, entertainment, sports, and technology sectors.

Over the course of three days, more than 300 sessions, panels, and workshops will be held, offering extensive opportunities for networking, knowledge exchange, and partnership building among investors, innovators, and content creators.

Bridge 2025 stands as a global platform for shaping the future of media in all its forms—bringing together creativity, technology, sports, and entertainment within a unified ecosystem that strengthens the UAE’s position as a global hub for media and content creation, and supports the growth of creative industries and the knowledge economy.

With the participation of leading figures in sports, media, investment, development, and global entertainment, Bridge 2025 moves forward in redefining Abu Dhabi’s position as a global destination for sports and entertainment content, and a key driver of economic growth regionally and internationally.

One day before the opening, the BRIDGE application recorded impressive engagement metrics:

14,618 exchanged messages, 425,000 searches, over 2 million interactions, 7,000 connections, and 871 pre-scheduled meetings.

The opening ceremony featured a short film showcasing the evolution of human communication—from primitive signs and cave drawings, to the emergence of language and writing in ancient Mesopotamia, the Library of Alexandria, the printing press, cinema, radio, and television, culminating in the pivotal moment of 1969 when the first message was transmitted between two computers, forever changing the world.

The film also explored the challenges of the digital age, the rise of virtual empires, the spread of misinformation, and the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence.

The Summit highlighted the expanding media content ecosystem, noting that the gaming industry today rivals cinema and television combined. It also revealed that 67% of content creators now use artificial intelligence, and cross-border partnerships have surged by 340% in just three years.

Organised by the UAE National Media Office, the BRIDGE Summit 2025 is a global media, content and entertainment event taking place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) from December 8 to 10, 2025.

The summit will bring together more than 60,000 participants — including creators, producers, journalists, artists, investors and policymakers — along with over 400 international speakers and around 300 exhibitors.

Across three days, attendees will join more than 300 sessions, including over 200+ panel discussions, 50+ workshops and interactive events covering seven content tracks: media, creator economy, music, gaming, technology, marketing and visual storytelling.

The summit aims to shape the global media landscape by fostering collaboration, supporting creative talent and enabling new business deals, investments and partnerships across the entertainment and content industries.