DUBAI: A newly launched premium content creation and production company is to offer scripted and non-scripted shows in the Middle East and North Africa region targeting pan-Arab digital media, linear TV, and the expanding over-the-top market.
Blue Engine Studios is the brainchild of media industry veterans Ziad Kebbi and Hani Ghorayeb who have co-founded the firm. The core team also consists of TV director and producer Jenane Mandour as chief operating officer.
Kebbi has produced local adaptations of international formats, such as “The Voice,” “Come Dine With Me,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Ugly Betty,” and “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” He has also developed “Deal or No Deal” and original shows such as “Lessa Badry,” “Ana Wel Asaal,” and “The Desert.”
In addition, he has worked across big names in television including Sony Pictures Television Arabia and Endemol Middle East.
“We’re excited to bring to the MENA region a new generation of innovative premium content shows designed to disrupt, win the eyeballs, and capture the hearts and minds of Arab audiences,” Kebbi said.
“With our local expertise, cultural relevance, and business partnerships with the top IP and format owners globally, we will bring tremendous ‘glocal’ added-value to the market and its audiences.”
Ghorayeb is a business leader in media and advertising. He was instrumental in helping transform MBC Group from a single general entertainment channel (MBC1), into the largest, top-rated Arab satellite TV network, in addition to establishing Shahid as a leader in the video-on-demand space in the MENA region.
“It’s not good or creative enough unless it sells. The commercial, monetization, and return on investment dimensions are key to the MENA region’s trailblazing brands, advertisers, and media companies. We’ll strive to offer the best possible media solutions to the market via premium content, unique user experience, and the highest ROI,” said Ghorayeb.
