ZOO Digital and Olive Digital Announce Strategic New Partnership in Sharjah

ZOO Digital has announced a new phase of its strategic partnership with Olive Digital in order to establish services in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This will enable the world-leading localisation and digital distribution provider to extend its reach in key territories in the Middle East. Establishing a presence in Sharjah has been possible thanks to Sharjah Media City (Shams), an in-territory governing body and media city hub for innovation.

Olive is a digital communications and distribution provider headquartered in Pakistan. The companies established a partnership two years ago when Olive became part of ZOO’s global affiliate network. Olive will now extend its operations by providing localisation, media ingest and QC services in Sharjah, while operating under the ZOO brand.

The Dubai partnership has come about as a direct response to the needs of ZOO’s clients. As the global OTT platforms begin to focus on acquiring regional content, they need partnerships with in-territory expertise that they can trust to ingest media and prepare assets for delivery. With over 180 different languages spoken in the UAE, Sharjah provides the ideal, strategic location for the expansion of ZOO’s affiliate network in the Middle East.

Olive will invest in infrastructure to establish a facility in Shams, a world-class hub for innovation for the creative and media industries. ZOO will provide expertise in the design of facilities and implementation of its cutting-edge, cloud-based technology, including training and security.

Adoption of ZOO’s platform, workflows and rigorous quality control programs will ensure that Olive’s Sharjah operation is quickly established as a provider to some of the biggest names in the global TV and movie industry. In turn, ZOO will benefit from being able to respond rapidly to its clients’ needs for localisation and media services in the region.

This partnership is the result of ZOO’s unique strategy to build a network of partners around the world that operate using ZOO’s technology and software backbone, while ZOO remains responsible for quality and operational delivery.

Gordon Doran, President, ZOO Digital said: “We recognize the growing importance of the Middle East for OTT services. Together with our trusted affiliate, Olive Digital, we are best placed to offer immediate localisation and media processing support on the ground in Sharjah, UAE, where nearly 200 different languages are spoken.

"Increasingly, vendors are called upon to provide a truly global service, to move quickly and provide capability wherever clients wish to source and distribute content. With our cloud-based services, we’re able to step up to the mark and make that happen.”

Asad Khan, President and Founder, Olive Digital said: “We are grateful to Dr Khalid Omar Al Midfa, and everyone at Shams. It’s thanks to their expertise and advice that we are able to create a state-of-the-art facility in Sharjah. Shams is a world-class hub for innovation and it makes sense that we are able to establish our service in a media city with this outstanding reputation.”

Dr. Khalid Omar Al Midfa, Chairman, Sharjah Media City (Shams) said: “We’re delighted to welcome ZOO Digital and Olive Digital to Sharjah. Shams sets the benchmark for service and support to those wishing to set-up and launch their business in the media industries in UAE. It is the ideal location for such an innovative localization provider.”

Visit ZOO Digital at NAB 2018 (Booth SL5724) April 7 – 12 to discover localisation and digital distribution done differently.