Vlad Borovina on why the stakeholders should be at Dubai International Content Market

Dubai International Content Market, a new and rejuvenated version of MyContent, will be hosted at Jumeirah Beach Hotel Conference Centre for the first time this year from December 9-10, 2018. BroadcastPro ME catches up with Vlad Borovina, Project & Sales Manager, for a quick chat prior to the event

How will DICM be different from MyContent?

Dubai International Content Market (DICM) is built on the backbone of what the industry used to know as the MyContent exhibition, which was organised at Dubai World Trade Centre last October. DICM 2018 comes with several new elements right from the team organising it and the participating formula to the selection of participants, and even the dates and the venue.

Take the ‘plug & work’ exhibiting offer, for instance. We are providing a turnkey solution for our exhibitors, who are primarily content sellers and service providers. Each of the 54 stands available are custom-made, ready-built and include everything from building to furniture to printing and Wi-Fi. Basically, once someone books a stand, they don’t have to worry about anything except booking their trip to Dubai and bringing their laptop.

We also wanted to be careful to attract the right audience to this event and have deliberately ensured it is no longer free to attend. It’s a two-day show and people’s time is very limited. On-site registration is at a nominal fee of AED 462 (approx. USD 125).

Regarding the dates, we moved the event to December because the Dubai International Film Festival was a popular event on everyone’s calendar. Having the event in December also means moving further away from MIPCOM, which usually takes place at the end of October.

Jumeirah Beach Hotel is also a glamorous and iconic destination, and close to Dubai Media City. If we look at other markets, such events are held at similar venues.

Do you have any figures on the MENA content market and why Dubai needs such an event?

The MENA region is a huge market of 20+ countries with more than 1,000 broadcasters and numerous SVOD platforms. Many of the region’s 75 telecoms companies are also delivering content services. With the opening of the Saudi market, home to one of the biggest untouched markets, it’s obvious that MENA is on everyone’s agenda. In the Middle East, there is no place like Dubai in terms of logistics, safety, facilities, technology and travel. If we are to have such an event, it needs to be in Dubai.

With the Dubai Film Market almost gone with DIFF’s departure, will DICM take on that role? Do you intend to expand to include grants and engage with forces on that front?

It was announced that DIFF will be organised bi-annually and slated to take place in 2019. I don’t really see a clash in the target audience between DFM and DICM, but more of a potential partnership if any. DICM welcomes creators, distributors and buyers of many types of content ranging from animation, comedy, drama, formats, gameshows to TV Series and feature films. The main focus of DICM is to keep that B2B aspect of the event and become a networking platform for its participants.

Where are your exhibitors from?

We have a number of exhibitors taking part this year with interesting content or key services provided. They come from this region of course, and also, Canada, the UK, France, Nigeria, India, Japan and other places with the main goal of doing business with the region. We have had many re-bookings from last year and this shows that people have understood our new vision and new concept. Dubai Media City is one of our new exhibitors this year and boasts the biggest stand. They will also have a slot in our conference programme.

What new features have you introduced this year and what launches, deals are you expecting people to announce? You must be privy to some information?

We have expanded our target audience to Central & Eastern Europe in terms of buyers, creating a diversity of interests for the two-day event. We also allocated more resources to the matchmaking platform, which is managed now by my colleague, Irina Deaconu, who comes with many years of experience in this key element of organising an exhibition. With such a diversity of exhibitors, I’m sure many deals will be signed. We will have some interesting announcements during the conference programme, but I will leave it to the speakers to do that.

What challenges are your exhibitors facing at the moment and how have you hoped to address them through your event?

I have been in the Media Events industry for many years and those days of spending thousands on building a stand are gone. Nowadays, companies and individuals need only a table and two chairs to open their laptop and discuss with the client. It’s all about the ROI and that’s what we deliver – a real good return of investment taking into consideration the business, the networking and the exposure exhibitors get at Dubai International Content Market.