The UAE’s entertainment sector is projected to expand by 9% annually through 2028.
Fever, the global live-entertainment discovery platform, has announced its plans to expand in the GCC. The company’s mission has been to democratise access to entertainment and culture since 2014, helping millions of people discover the best experiences in more than 100 cities around the world.
After raising $227m in a funding round that was led by Goldman Sachs and reaching unicorn status with a billion-dollar valuation, Fever is primed to succeed in the Middle East.
Fever’s expansion in the Gulf will further grow its global community, which has a reach of over 150m people every week. With the Middle East’s media and entertainment market set to grow by 7.4% annually through 2027, Fever will leverage its proprietary technology to support countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE; the former reportedly held over 2,500 events and drew 80m+ attendees from 2016 through the end of 2021, and the latter’s entertainment sector is projected to expand by 9% annually through 2028.
By providing original experiences with select partners and IP creators, Fever is poised to bolster the regional entertainment sector’s post-pandemic resurgence. The company has amassed global success by showcasing its industry know-how via work with household names such as Warner Bros and Netflix. In its pursuit to empower entertainment and event creators and provide personalised and curated experiences across the globe, Fever’s “Candlelight Concert Series” has become among its most notable accomplishments by starting in 2019 and being attended by over 5m guests worldwide.
Speaking about the expansion plan, Rachid Laurent Elameri, General Manager of Fever Middle East, said: “The regional entertainment industry’s transformation is far from over and the UAE in specific shows great promise. On average, the country’s residents spend over seven hours a day on the internet; about three are spent on social media. Our fast-paced world has created infinite options and we are using data-driven insights to remove the decision fatigue that this has spurred and truly decipher not only the desires of the UAE’s diverse population of residents, expatriates, and tourists – but also the region as a whole.”
The company is committed to becoming the major discovery platform in the Middle East and it has nearly doubled its workforce by growing from approximately 650 employees in Q1 of 2022 to now over 1,200 in Q1 of 2023.
