The ASBU BroadcastPro Summit & Awards highlighted a touchstone agenda, setting out a bandwidth for change and honouring the sector’s top performers
Nine years ago, the BroadcastPro Summit & Awards first created a unique and dynamic forum for knowledge sharing and collaboration between broadcast professionals in the Middle East and North Africa. Now meticulously evolved by CPI Trade Media, the 2019 edition held on November 3 at Habtoor Grand, Dubai Marina, featured a remarkably rich debate on the key issues impacting the sector, bringing together more than 200 of the industry’s top professionals – and concluding with a glittering awards gala celebrating the market-makers and creative talents who push the bar ever-higher.
Partnered by the Arab States Broadcasting Union, the event has consistently aimed to provide an objective, rich and comprehensive industry fact file – and the latest iteration tackled a spectrum of the most avid key debates. Across a sequence of six vibrant panels, there was a focus on the trends impacting Content – whether in terms of quality or the role of analytics; the all-important topic of IP and the routes to implementation; a discussion around migrating broadcast operations to the Cloud; Esports and broadcasting, and perceptive dialogue on the role of women executives. The Summit closed with a fascinating panel discussion on how CEOs are looking to revisit their business model to harvest the new world of digital ad spend and the upcoming collaborations intended to drive better synergy and lower costs.
While the evening Awards gala has long been a diary-date of note for the industry’s stellar personalities, every award is underpinned by rigorous metrics and the presence of an expert judging panel – a professionalism attracting entries from across the GCC and North Africa and informing an extremely broad range of awards categories. The 18 awards also reflect the growing impact and needs of a digital agenda and recognize the Champions of the transformation pulling broadcasters in its wake.
Commenting on the day’s success, Raz Islam, Managing Director of CPI Trade Media, commented: “The event has now become the ‘magnetic north’ of a sector at the epicentre of wholesale change – and here in the Middle East, broadcasters are finding highly innovative approaches as they reach new levels of creativity and customer appeal. We are honoured to reflect and help those changes and create a day that is both technically valuable and a first-class networking opportunity.”
Vijaya Cherian, Editorial Director and Editor of BroadcastPro ME – the event’s brand platform and parent publication – commented: “Our aim is always to be as close as possible to the issues and debates in the sector and to provide a relevant, well-informed commentary. It’s inspirational to see how the event has evolved over nine years and become a forum where first-to-market ideas are openly discussed amongst the industry executives best-empowered to deliver solutions at the forefront of the broadcast agenda.”
The Award winners
- SPACE INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR 2019 – Orbital Space, Kuwait
- PRODUCTION HOUSE OF THE YEAR – Nomad
- ANIMATED WORK OF THE YEAR – Zeez Animation for Brq& Bana
- SPORTS INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR – Special Olympics and Abu Dhabi Media
- OUTSTANDING OTT PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR – Viu for Zodiac
- STREAMING SERVICE OF THE YEAR –YuppTV
- BEST VIDEO INITIATIVE ON A SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM – Awaan, Dubai Media Inc.
- DIGITAL STRATEGY OF THE YEAR -Tooli and Arabsat
- FACTUAL ENTERTAINMENT OF THE YEAR – Nat Geo Abu Dhabi/Fox Networks Group for Reach for the Stars
- BROADCAST SERVICES PROVIDER OF THE YEAR -Twofour54
- BROADCASTPRO ME INNOVATIVE PROJECT OF THE YEAR – Blink Studios for Toyota Saudi Select Mobile App
- MENA TRENDSETTER OF THE YEAR -Sharjah Media City (Shams) and Art Format Lab
- RADIO INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR -Nisaa Broadcasting Radio Company
- OUTSTANDING INITIATIVES FROM A DISTRIBUTOR -Advanced Media
- OUTSTANDING LIVE EVENTS PRODUCTION – 7 Production
- TECH INNOVATION OF THE YEAR – Sponix Tech
- BROADCAST PROJECT OF THE YEAR – Sky News Arabia
- OUTSTANDING CREATIVITY IN VIDEO PRODUCTION – SOCIALEYEZ
- WOMAN OF THE YEAR IN MENA BROADCAST – Zahra Zayat, VP MENA, Yupp TV
