AlUla Arts Festival 2025 wraps up with a vibrant closing weekend
ALULA — As the fourth edition of the AlUla Arts Festival reaches its grand finale, visitors are invited to experience an extraordinary closing weekend filled with world-class exhibitions, interactive workshops, film screenings, and cultural engagements.
Since its launch, the festival has attracted over 40,000 visitors, cementing its reputation as a premier global platform for artistic and cultural exchange.
While the festival officially concludes on February 22, select exhibitions, including Wadi AlFann presents James Turrell, will remain open until April, offering extended hours during Ramadan to allow visitors further opportunities to explore the transformative power of art in AlUla's breathtaking landscape.
The closing weekend promises a rich and immersive program, welcoming guests to engage with diverse artistic expressions across multiple disciplines.
The AlUla Artist Residency Open Studio at Mabiti Hotel will provide a unique insight into the creative processes of international artists, showcasing their explorations in photography, installation, performance, and material studies.
Visitors can also explore Raw to Revival at Design Space AlUla, an exhibition aligned with Saudi Arabia's Year of Handicrafts initiative, which highlights the influence of traditional craftsmanship on contemporary design.
Music and cinema lovers will find an array of engaging experiences, with Cinema AlJadidah hosting curated screenings, including Nosferatu, Gonjiam Haunted Asylum, and Born a King, offering audiences a mix of classic and contemporary storytelling.
Meanwhile, the AlUla Music Hub Vocational Students Showcase Concert will celebrate emerging talent, providing a stage for young artists to share their creativity.
Beyond the festival's closing events, several acclaimed exhibitions will continue to captivate audiences until April.
Wadi AlFann presents James Turrell offers a retrospective on the pioneering Light and Space artist, connecting his legacy with his ambitious land art commission in AlUla.
Maha Malluh: Reminiscence presents a compelling exploration of memory and representation through contemporary art, while Tarek Atoui: Bayt Al Hams (The Whispering House) invites visitors into an interactive sound experience, encouraging participation and experimentation.
Additional exhibitions, such as Raw to Revival, Alamaat, and Thikra: Night of Remembering, further enrich AlUla's artistic landscape. Thikra, a site-specific performance created by renowned choreographer Akram Khan and artist Manal AlDowayan, will embark on a world tour in 2025, showcasing AlUla's cultural narrative to international audiences.
© Copyright 2022 The Saudi Gazette. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
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Every Ramadan, more than 120 satellite TV channels across the Arab world engage in a high-stakes content race. Scripted dramas – aka musalsalat – become cultural currency, and platforms compete fiercely for attention. Heba Korayem takes us through the trends for Ramadan 2025. With an estimated* $300- 500m in annual production value, the Ramadan TV season is the most important window in the Arab content calendar. Drama titles released during this 30-day period are not only considered the most expensive, but also the most tradeable. They often serve as proxies for platform strength, market influence and audience loyalty. Without this concentrated cycle of content production and acquisition, tracking the full scope of market activity, especially beyond the commonly referenced 'big five' MENA media entities (MBC, OSN, BeIN, StarzPlay, YangoPlay), would be nearly impossible. 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Yes – if a title retains viewers past the first few episodes. No – if a title doesn't really stick. Parrot Analytics data confirms this. Of the season's most widely distributed titles, only two ranked among the top 10 most-viewed shows across four key MENA markets, measuring the entirety of the Ramadan season. Interestingly, those titles weren't the most distributed ones. While Syrian titles Layali Roxy and Al Ahd were the most widely released, the former available on over 20 MENA platforms and TV channels, it was Hakim Basha and Fahd El Batal – Egyptian titles by Synergy appearing on nearly 15 platforms, including YouTube – that consistently ranked highest in popularity among viewers. 2- YouTube-first strategy This one's interesting – over 3% of Ramadan releases followed a YouTube-first model. Five in One is a fun experiment targeting Gen Z, youth and basically any adult younger than us. It's the first truly pan-Arab, multi-dialect short-form drama/suspense series made up of just five episodes and starring only influencers. It's packed with Gen Z energy. Was it popular? 1.5m views per episode – pretty solid! Is it the future of Ramadan entertainment? Probably not. Other YouTube-first titles came from independent producers in Tunisia and Sudan, bypassing both networks and platforms, usually supported by sponsorships. 3- Branded content These are series fully funded by product placement or corporate sponsorship. Notable examples include Tunisia's Arriere el Goddem, a 12-episode nostalgic comedy funded by six sponsors including big brands like Peugeot and LG, which reached 1.5m views per episode. It was released only on YouTube after a struggle by the producers to break into the gate-keeping structure of traditional channels. In Bahrain, the state broadcaster's Ramadan Sherif featured overt product placements and generated around 100k views per episode. In a region lacking unified audience measurement tools, YouTube views are a valuable metric for advertisers on TV networks and a revenue source for producers. 4- Catch-up strategy For broadcasters lagging in digital transformation, YouTube serves as a catch-up platform. 54% of YouTube uploads came directly from TV networks, especially in North Africa. Before 2018, this was common practice. But with the rise of digital monetisation and long-term value realisation, many have shifted to launching their own OTT platforms. In 2025 around 20 TV networks have continued this trend, fewer than last year. Notably, Morocco, Yemen and a private Libyan broadcaster have now invested in their own OTT infrastructure. Regional distribution patterns by country A heatmap of YouTube distribution shows clear regional patterns across the MENA region. – Algeria and Morocco lead in YouTube + TV dual release – Egypt favours TV and OTT, rarely uploading new assets to YouTube – Tunisia embraces YouTube-first models – GCC countries like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia stick to closed ecosystems (TV + OTT) This regional behaviour offers deep insights into platform alliances, monetisation preferences and target audience strategies by country. YouTube's flexibility, scalable ad model and viral reach make it especially appealing for youth-oriented or dialect-specific content from underserved markets. Strategic outlook: What's next? – More broadcasters, especially GCC state entities and those in the Franco-Arab region, will invest in OTT tech infrastructure while still using YouTube for marketing (not catch-up). – Private channels may skip OTT development but pursue stronger platform partnerships. – Producers will continue to use YouTube as a testing ground and monetisation tool; more importantly, for ad-funded entertainment programmes; most definitely, for the most anticipated upcoming trend: Arabic micro-drama. – Platforms will maintain a love-hate dynamic with YouTube, a topic deserving its own analysis. – Tech service providers: The MENA market right now is like Disneyland for tech vendors and will continue to be, particularly in the AdTech space. – Investors remain cautious, but rising access to content performance data is building confidence and attracting international investment in regional content. To outsiders, MENA's content market may appear fragmented, even chaotic. But Ramadan exposes its underlying structure. For those familiar with the region's cultural rhythms, it offers one of the clearest roadmaps to untapped opportunity in a rapidly evolving media economy. This article only scratches the surface of the region's dynamic content landscape. A deeper dive into the funding sources behind regional video assets, platform affiliations, shifting global power plays and growing inter-regional competition reveals even more opportunity – and explains how this market is fuelling both innovation and exponential growth. *Source: HConsult Content Market Tracker Figure estimated based on: Data from production sources across key markets Content market activity and trading prices
