The night I got back from Beijing this summer, I crashed an editors’ dinner hosted by Monocle at the Park Hyatt in Dubai (thank you Rami for the tip off)- not my usual style but there was no way I was going to pass up the chance to meet Tyler Brule (huge influence), and the Monocle team were incredibly gracious in making room for me (even rummaging around to find an extra goodie tote-bag at the end).

There was only one actual editor at the dinner (Ahmad Shabib of Brownbook) but Burhan Wazir of Abu Dhabi’s excellent (for the region) English-language newspaper The National was there and it was fascinating to hear just how much the Abu Dhabi Media Co had put into setting the paper up. They launched with a staff of about 250 (and were recruiting heavily for the launch of their Saturday – our Sunday equivalent- title). Monocle on the other hand run a very tight outfit, with a dozen full time staff in London. All of this of course was particularly interesting in the global newspaper industry context of doom and gloom and nonstop layoffs. ADMC expected The National to break even five years (if I remember correctly) after the launch. Deputy editor Hassan Fattah, a former reporter for the New York Times and Associated Press plays down the exceptional timing going againdt the grain of theto be investing so heavily in a globally : “It’s just a newspaper that’s funded properly,” he says in an LA Times article (In Emirates, newspapers still a growth industry).

It turns out the National was only the opening shot in Abu Dhabi’s media moves. In October 2007, the government signed a deal worth $1 billion to woo Hollywood’s biggest film studio, Warner Bros, into a partnership (The Economist) and more recently the company announced it would spend $1 billion to start a film financing offshoot that will invest in Hollywood-style movies for English-speaking audiences.
In October, a spate of companies announced that they were setting up shop in twofour54 Abu Dhabi (formerly known as the Abu Dhabi Media Zone). The companies include global names like CNN, HarperCollins and Random House, the British Broadcasting Corporation, The Financial Times and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Meanwhile the global media industry’s funk continues. The unavoidable reformatting of business models will happen even faster in the current economic outlook. The FT’s Lex recently commented on the UK Newspaper industry:

Forced to choose between a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, Thomas Jefferson said that he would not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. As they survey the troubled state of newspapers heading into what promises to be another difficult year, UK competition authorities would do well to keep that advice in mind.

Newspaper revenues are set to fall sharply next year as advertisers cut back on spending. Some have enjoyed a credit crunch spike in interest in matters financial, but circulation, generally, is down. Redundancies, though, are up. It is likely that not all the UK’s 20-odd national papers will see out 2009. Regional papers, hit by online classifieds competitors, are in even worse shape.
Consolidation appears inevitable. The question is whether it proceeds in an orderly way, with stronger groups buying the best assets of weaker ones, or whether the weakest are simply left to fail.

Facing a dwindling list of potential “trophy buyers”, newspaper groups across the world are starting to think creatively about their plight. Talk of publishers like Daily Mail & General Trust and Independent News & Media combining back office functions mirrors murmurs of a similar tie-up between the New York Post and the Daily News, two bitter US rivals.

I wander how far fetched a big foreign, dare I say – trophy acquisition by ADMC is? Although there would be plenty of political potholes in the way of a foreign (and non-democratic Arab to boot) government purchase. Or perhaps ADMC will just continue hiring away talent from the venerable UK institutions. It is too early to tell how hands off the Abu Dhabi government will continue to be with The National’s editorial policies, but the early signs have been promising. I can see The National quickly becoming the Gulf region’s most influential newspaper.

Personally I think more thought and innovation should have gone into ADMC’s digital strategies. The focus has primarily been on recreating existing business models (newsprint, film, tv etc) which are in terminal decline in their traditional forms. The exception is Getmo Arabia:

GETMO Arabia will be a 50:50 joint venture firm between Arvato Middle East Sales & Abu Dhabi Media Company. It is based in Abu Dhabi and will set new benchmarks for digital entertainment in the region by leveraging the significant local content archive of Abu Dhabi Media Company. The announcement of the formation of GETMO Arabia at MECOM comes after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Abu Dhabi Media Company and the Bertelsmann Group.

Too early to tell how that will play out but it’s a promising move in the right direction.

Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi are all making some serious media moves and in usual Abu Dhabi form, it’s the last to the party but with the best and most ambitious plans. I am betting all three cities will succeed, carving out and cornering different segments of the industry.
Oh and when ADMC get round to entering the music industry, give me a call!

AbuDhabi v Dubai v Doha

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