Saudi-owned Muvi Cinemas partners with Motivate Val Morgan for advertising

Saudi-owned Muvi Cinemas, which recently opened its first cinema in the kingdom, has signed a deal with Motivate Val Morgan for cinema advertising.

Motivate Val Morgan will serve as the exclusive advertising sales partner across all of Muvi’s cinema locations in the kingdom.

Muvi, the first Saudi owned and operated cinema brand –  operated by The Next Generation Company – opened its first cinema at Mall of Arabia in Jeddah on August 10, with 15 screens offering 1,981 seats.

The company has announced plans to open 250 screens across the kingdom over the next 24 months.

Read: Saudi Arabia awards seventh cinema licence

Motivate Val Morgan – a joint venture between Motivate Media Group and Val Morgan Cinema Network, presently has exclusive advertising partnerships with seven other cinema exhibitors across UAE, Lebanon, Oman, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and a circuit of over 580 cinema screens.

“Our continued expansion into Saudi Arabia is key to fulfilling our business objectives,” said Ian Fairservice, managing partner of Motivate Media Group (which also publishes Gulf Business).

Saudi opened up cinemas in the country last year, ending a nearly 40-year ban in the kingdom.

Read: Saudi cinema launch ends decades-old ban

The kingdom aims to open almost 350 cinemas with 2,500 screens by 2030, with plans to attract nearly $1bn in annual ticket sales by catering to an audience of 32 million.

Research last year by PwC Middle East showed that revenues from those cinemas could reach up to $1.5bn by 2030.

Saudi’s overall entertainment industry is expected to contribute $24bn to the local economy and create 30,000 permanent jobs by 2030.