Group ONE Holdings (ONE), the parent company of ONE Championship, announced a long-term partnership in the region with Media City Qatar at the Qatar Economic Forum on July 22.
ONE Holdings Partners With Media City Qatar
Per the press release, the organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) to collaborate on the production and development of global content.
“This partnership is extremely strategic as it marks our foray into the Middle East, a key market for ONE across all of our content offerings: general entertainment, martial arts, and esports,” said ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.
The enthusiasm was echoed by Media City Qatar CEO Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
“We are very excited to announce a partnership with Group ONE Holdings which will bring a global content creator to Doha and strengthen Qatar’s media ecosystem. Media City is focusing on enabling innovative, creative media to flourish in Qatar and this partnership will be strategic in achieving this objective. We expect that this partnership will also create a path for other global IP content creators to consider Qatar as a hub to build their presence.”
The first project of the partnership will be the second season of the hit show The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition.
After a successful first season, which saw the show pick up “Best Non-Scripted Entertainment” and “Best Adaptation of an Existing Format” wins at the Asian Academy Creative Awards, the upcoming season will showcase Qatar in its filming.
But that will just be the beginning.
ONE and Media City Qatar are already having discussions on developing future projects that include studio shows, live sports programming, and the creation of an esports hub.
“We are excited to bring ONE closer to all our fans in Qatar and across the Middle East. Media City has big ambitions of establishing Qatar as a global media hub and we are committed to enhancing this vision while building world-class content in Qatar to serve millions of fans around the world,” said Sityodtong.
