Business Extra: OSN chief on Ramadan and watching trends

Ramadan is the time of year when consumers in the Middle East tend to up their TV, streaming and media consumption.

Joe Kawkabani, chief executive of OSN Group, one of the largest entertainment content companies in the region, joins Business Extra this week to talk about trends in streaming this Ramadan.

OSN is investing in data science to know more about their customers’ preferences and consumption behaviour to better recommend content to them, Mr Kawkabani said. The privately held media conglomerate is open for acquisitions and partnerships, he added.

In this episode:

OSN's content, partners and viewership (0m 33s)

Ramadan viewership trends and the subscription model (4m 03s)

OSN Originals and competing for attention (7m 27s)

Recruiting talent and what's next for streaming services (13m 37s)

Rocketman

Director: Dexter Fletcher

Starring: Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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Company profile

Name: Steppi

Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic

Launched: February 2020

Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year

Employees: Five

Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings

Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year

1888

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Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France

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Family reunited

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.

She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.

She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.

The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.

She was held in her native country a year later.

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Key facilities

Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
600-seat auditorium
Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
AR and VR-enabled learning centres
Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills