The awards honoured the champions whose passion, ability and tech know-how are taking the industry to an unheralded era of innovation.
The 11th edition of the ASBU BroadcastPro Awards, held on November 16, at the Westin Mina Seyahi, Dubai, once again proved a powerful barometer of the trends shaping regional broadcasting and streaming. The mantra ‘Content is King’ is truer than ever and the content innovators have played an increasingly important role in deciding where the smart money should be spent.
With the OTT revolution increasingly gathering pace, new ways of delivering content are introducing a brand new set of dynamics – and on 16th November, the champions of these new working styles were honoured in a grand gala ceremony at the Westin Mina Seyahi.
Earlier in the day, the ASBU BroadcastPro Summit focused on critical areas of content curation and delivery, while the content game-changers who excelled with their pioneering spirit were featured in the night’s Awards line-up.
The awards reflected the changing face of the industry – and how streaming services and customer behaviour are re-shaping content formats as well as how content is delivered.
“The ASBU BroadcastPro Awards aim not just to acknowledge the big players whose budgets and global outreach lead the way. They also honour the smaller, outlier businesses whose breakthroughs are paving the way for a new industry landscape,” commented Vijaya Cherian, Editorial Director and Managing Partner at CPI Trade Media, which publishes BroadcastPro Middle East.
“Our awards are well-known for their regional scope and each year, we try to celebrate winners across different regional markets. This year, we saw some remarkable initiatives from the UAE, Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and North Africa that mirrored a number of key initiatives in these countries with companies at the vanguard of industry ambitions and performance.”
While two awards were reserved for the satellite segment, 18 awards were given away in the broadcast segment.
The list of award winners for 2021 is as follows:
BROADCASTPRO MIDDLE EAST AWARDS
Best TV Production of the Year
Qayd Majhoul – OSN
Best OTT Production of the Year
Nemra Etnein – Shahid
Best Content Strategy of the Year
NINETNINE
Film Initiative of the Year
Italia Film
Best Radio Initiative of the Year
Ministry of Information Affairs Radio Project, Bahrain
BroadcastPro ME Innovative Project of the Year
Expo 2020 Dubai
Best 2021 Tech Implementation in OTT
Home Plus Network (H+)
Outstanding Sports Initiative of the Year
IP Studios
Streaming Service of the Year
Shahid
MENA Trendsetter of the Year
Cedars Art Production
Systems Integrator of the Year
Wave Media Solutions
Outstanding Kids’ Content Initiative
Spacetoon
Outstanding OB Project of the Year
INC System Integrations DMCC – 4K IP OB van for Sharjah Broadcasting Authority
Entertainment App of the Year
Fannbox App
Broadcast Executive of the Year
Manoj A Mathew, Exec VP & Territory Head (MENAPT), Zee Network
CTO of the Year
Peter Riz, CTO, OSN
Special Recognition – UAE Production
Al Sununu, Visioneers Holding
Special Recognition – KSA Project
VITEC
SATELLITEPRO MIDDLE EAST AWARDS
Satellite Operator of the Year
Al Yah Satellite Communications Company P.J.S.C. (YAHSAT)
Satellite Solutions Provider of the Year
ST Engineering iDirect
