UAE’s publishing sector has grown by 150 percent during the current decade and it will reach $650 million in 2030, according to a report by Pricewaterhouse Cooper, which estimates that global media and entertainment services sector will reach $2.4 trillion next year.
The report said the UAE accounts for 25 percent of total subscriptions in digital media outlets in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The report expects an increase in revenue in the UAE’s Digital Music segment to $62 million this year, with its Compound Annual Growth Rate increasing by 9.46 percent, entailing a projected market value of $89 million in 2026.
According to estimates by Niko Partners, the UAE’s entertainment industry will grow at a CAGR of 9 percent 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 percent over five years.
A report by UAE’s Ministry of Economy titled “Investing in Media and Entertainment in the UAE” said Dubai Media City has 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 AED30 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 licenses in the same year.
The PwC report said the global media and entertainment services sector is seeing a growing dependence on innovation and artificial intelligence (AI).
It expects the media and entertainment sector to grow by a CAGR of 5 percent from 2020 to 2025, amounting to $2.6 trillion, noting that the web content, search portals and social media segments will achieve gains totaling $542.2 billion in global annual sales while the TV broadcasting segment will achieve gains of $79.2 billion, the movies and video segment with $83.3 billion, and newspapers and magazines publishers with $32.6 billion.
Artificial Intelligence Specialist reports on the global media and entertainment services sector noted the growing international share of AI in 2022 by a CAGR of 30 percent, valued at $8.4 billion, according to Analytics Insight while Grandview Research estimates the international AI market to grow by $99.48 billion by 2030.
Future Market Insights also pointed out that the value of the AI market within the media and entertainment sector amounted to $10.4 billion in 2021, while estimates suggest that this sector will grow, from 2022 to 2032, by a CAGR of 26 percent to $132.16 billion.