Hobbit producer aims for Middle East mobiles

The home entertainment division of US-based media producer Warner Bros, which produced The Hobbit and the Harry Potter films and has an enormous archive of movies and televison shows, is focusing on the mobile space for growth in the Middle East region.

Jim Wuthrich, president of Warner Bros Home Entertainment,speaking on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi Media Summit said that the business was making more of its business available in the region by partnering with local players.

he added that the company is further developing its apps and websites - known as over-the-top (OTT) services - in light of the increased growth in smartphone and tablet usage in the region and the arrival of Apple's iTunes store in the Middle East.

"Most of our activity is in OTT, so that is definitely a focus of ours. The market is interested so we are making our content more and more available on those platforms and devices," said Mr Wuthrich.

Regional trends indicate that while television continues to dominate home entertainment, users frequently engage online at the same time on another screen - usually a mobile, tablet or laptop.

"Generally what happens in long-form content, like film and television, consumers will gravitate to the best screen available to them. At home, it is the large TV, but more and more tablets are becoming an important part of accessing content...which has created a whole new space for us," said Mr Wuthrich.

Currently digital media accounts for about 30 per cent of Warner Bros' revenues, but that is expected to increase over the coming years.

"We will see a difference with how people engage with content with the next generation...Traditionally on broadcast TV and satellite there is a limit on what content could be made available, but with IT-based services and OTT there are no limitations and you can make all types of content available and you can serve smaller target audiences. That's where we see a lot of opportunity." added Mr Wuthrich.

thamid@thenational.ae