INTERVIEW: Influencer marketing has matured a lot in the region

AnyTag has a social media analytics module that enables users to track key statistics on a brand’s own social media channels. (Supplied)
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Updated 03 December 2021
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INTERVIEW: Influencer marketing has matured a lot in the region

  • Maha Mahdy, head of AnyTag for AnyMind Group in MENA, discusses influencer marketing’s growth and evolution in the region

DUBAI: AnyMind Group, a brand enablement platform for influencers, marketers, publishers and businesses, recently announced new updates to its influencer marketing platform, AnyTag, which it launched at the beginning of this year.

Since launching the AnyTag platform for marketers and the AnyCreator mobile app for influencers in the Middle East and North Africa region, the company has seen significant growth with a current database of more than 5000 influencers across 11 countries, and agency partners and marketers including Pizza Hut and Talabat.

The new features on AnyTag include automated recommendations of similar influencers through lookalike modeling of an influencer’s content, the detection of brands an influencer has worked with in the past, and the identification and visualization of hashtags an influencer frequently uses.

AnyTag also has a social media analytics module that enables users to track key statistics on a brand’s own social media channels, together with competitor analysis, hashtag analysis and interactions analysis to identify the performance of mentioned and tagged posts of a brand by social media users.

Arab News spoke to Maha Mahdy, head of AnyTag for AnyMind Group in MENA, to discuss the evolution of influencer marketing from the days of YouTube and Facebook to Snapchat and TikTok.




Maha Mahdy, head of AnyTag for AnyMind Group in MENA. (Supplied)

Influencer marketing has been around for a while. How has it changed and where is it at today?

Over the past two years, influencer marketing got a really big boost in popularity; in part, due to the fact that there were a lot of budgets to spend, which would otherwise have been spent on things like events and so on, which got canceled.

There was also a huge shift in how influencer marketing operated in the past two years because everybody was adapting to the new normal. So, we saw people trying out different platforms and topics. For example, travel influencers were no longer traveling so they would talk about other topics such as fitness.

With that shift in platforms, formats and topics, brands started to jump on to see if there were new ways to work with influencers that didn’t necessarily fit the brand before.

One of the most interesting things about influencer marketing in the region is that it has matured a lot — both from a client and influencer perspective.

What does that maturity look like for clients and how is it reflected in the marketing?

If the target audience wants something, you need to find a way to give it to them and put your brand in the messaging. And so brands have started to let go of the reins; they held on very tightly for the past five years because it’s very difficult to trust somebody from outside the organization to communicate on your behalf.

But, it’s about finding that sweet spot — how do I, as a brand, give them (influencers) guidelines but then let them create the content? That’s massive maturity for a brand.

As marketers maintain that balancing act between their own corporate guidelines and influencers’ creative freedom, what are the things that they need to keep in mind when working with influencers?

One of the key things is to let go of the reins a little bit. Another thing that you would think is quite basic, but is still so important, is choosing the right influencer — it’s so crucial to select the right influencer to work with.

A lot of brands are still looking at the number of followers an influencer has, and quite frankly that doesn’t give you much on what an influencer can do for you. That’s why we have a multi-point, data-driven approach through the AnyTag platform wherein we look at everything from influencers’ engagement metrics to demographics.

There also needs to be brand synergy. When people see this person talking about your brand, does it make sense or does it look forced? We also look at things like their collaboration history, which includes whether they have worked with competitors or have bad-mouthed the brand in the past.

Looking at the platform side of influencer marketing, how has that changed from it being predominantly Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to now Snapchat and TikTok?

Selecting the right platform is one of the most important things when we’re planning out a campaign and that comes down to the target audience. We’re also looking at the category, so, for example, when it comes to fashion, we know Instagram is inspirational and aspirational; with gamers, it’s YouTube.

The target audience and category work hand in hand. So, if I’m looking to target Gen Z, instantly our first thought is exploring TikTok. However, if I want to communicate with Saudi moms, I have to integrate Snapchat, because these target groups live and breathe TikTok and Snapchat respectively.

Then there’s also the format. Using the same examples, Gen Z and Saudi moms both like quick content formats so TikTok and Snapchat make sense versus older millennials who would like a good 15-minute IGTV video on an interesting topic.

Is there any particular platform that outperforms others for influencer marketing?

Looking at the campaigns we have run on AnyTag, I can see a clear preference for Instagram in the MENA region. The reason for that is the ease of use of the platform, a very high level of data availability, and the numerous content formats. Instagram really won the game with content formats because it has everything from Stories, to photos, to different video formats like Reels, which is quick, and IGTV, which is long-form.

So, Instagram dominated the space but TikTok also cemented its position last year and YouTube will always be a strong player for the MENA region because there are really strong technology and gaming influencers, as well as children’s channels, on the platform. In Saudi Arabia, however, I would rank Snapchat as high as Instagram, but that’s only in KSA as we don’t see much demand for it outside the Kingdom.


Trump freezes US-funded media outlets including Voice of America

Updated 16 March 2025
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Trump freezes US-funded media outlets including Voice of America

  • VOA director Michael Abramowitz said he was among 1,300 staffers placed on leave Saturday

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday put journalists at Voice of America and other US-funded broadcasters on leave, abruptly freezing decades-old outlets long seen as critical to countering Russian and Chinese information offensives.
Hundreds of staffers at VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other outlets received a weekend email saying they will be barred from their offices and should surrender press passes and office-issued equipment.
Trump, who has already eviscerated the US global aid agency and the Education Department, on Friday issued an executive order listing the US Agency for Global Media as among “elements of the federal bureaucracy that the president has determined are unnecessary.”
Kari Lake, a firebrand Trump supporter put in charge of the media agency after she lost a US Senate bid, said in an email to the outlets that federal grant money “no longer effectuates agency priorities.”
The White House said the cuts would ensure “taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda,” marking a dramatic tone shift toward the networks established to extend US influence overseas.
White House press official Harrison Fields wrote “goodbye” on X in 20 languages, a jab at the outlets’ multilingual coverage.
VOA director Michael Abramowitz said he was among 1,300 staffers placed on leave Saturday.
“VOA needs thoughtful reform, and we have made progress in that regard. But today’s action will leave Voice of America unable to carry out its vital mission,” he said on Facebook, noting that its coverage — in 48 languages — reaches 360 million people each week.
The head of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which started broadcasting into the Soviet bloc during the Cold War, called the cancelation of funding “a massive gift to America’s enemies.”
“The Iranian ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years,” its president, Stephen Capus, said in a statement.

US-funded media have reoriented themselves since the end of the Cold War, dropping much of the programming geared toward newly democratic Central and Eastern European countries and focusing on Russia and China.
Chinese state-funded media have expanded their reach sharply over the past decade, including by offering free services to outlets in the developing world that would otherwise pay for Western news agencies.
Radio Free Asia, established in 1996, sees its mission as providing uncensored reporting into countries without free media including China, Myanmar, North Korea and Vietnam.
The outlets have an editorial firewall, with a stated guarantee of independence despite government funding.
The policy has angered some around Trump, who has long railed against media and suggested that government-funded outlets should promote his policies.
The move to end US-funded media is likely to meet challenges, much like Trump’s other sweeping cuts. Congress, not the president, has the constitutional power of the purse and Radio Free Asia in particular has enjoyed bipartisan support in the past.

Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders condemned the decision, saying it “threatens press freedom worldwide and negates 80 years of American history in supporting the free flow of information.”
Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and senior Democratic congresswoman Lois Frankel said in a joint statement that Trump’s move would “cause lasting damage to US efforts to counter propaganda around the world.”
One VOA employee, who requested anonymity, described Saturday’s message as another “perfect example of the chaos and unprepared nature of the process,” with VOA staffers presuming that scheduled programming is off but not told so directly.
A Radio Free Asia employee said: “It’s not just about losing your income. We have staff and contractors who fear for their safety. We have reporters who work under the radar in authoritarian countries in Asia. We have staff in the US who fear deportation if their work visa is no longer valid.”
“Wiping us out with the strike of a pen is just terrible.”
 


Miami Beach mayor threatens cinema closure over screening of Oscar-winning film ‘No Other Land’

Updated 14 March 2025
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Miami Beach mayor threatens cinema closure over screening of Oscar-winning film ‘No Other Land’

  • Documentary is propaganda, attack on Jews, says Steven Meiner
  • Cinema’s CEO Vivian Marthell stands by decision to screen film

LONDON: The mayor of Miami Beach, Florida, has threatened to shutter a cinema that screened “No Other Land,” the Oscar-winning film that tells the story of Palestinian displacement in the West Bank.

Steven Meiner has proposed terminating O Cinema’s lease and withdrawing $40,000 in promised grant funding, following a series of requests to cancel the documentary screening.

Meiner’s proposal to terminate the cinema’s lease is scheduled for a city commission vote next Wednesday.

Critics of the film claim it unfairly criticizes Israeli and German officials and contains antisemitic content.

“The City of Miami Beach has one of the highest concentrations of Jewish residents in the United States,” Meiner said in a newsletter sent to residents on Tuesday.

He described the documentary as “a false one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our City and residents.”

Meiner also claimed that O Cinema’s CEO, Vivian Marthell, initially agreed to cancel the screening but later reversed her decision and added additional dates after the film sold out.

Marthell said she stood by her decision.

“We understand the power of cinema to tell stories that matter, and we recognize that some stories — especially those rooted in real-world conflicts — can evoke strong feelings and passionate reactions. As they should.

“Our decision to screen ‘No Other Land’ is not a declaration of political alignment. It is, however, a bold reaffirmation of our fundamental belief that every voice deserves to be heard.”

The production, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature this month, was filmed between 2019 and 2023 by Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers.

It follows the destruction of Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank by Israeli military forces and chronicles the unlikely friendship between Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, who co-directed the film.

Abraham said in a statement: “When the mayor uses the word antisemitism to silence Palestinians and Israelis who proudly oppose occupation and apartheid together, fighting for justice and equality, he is emptying it out of meaning.

“I find that to be very dangerous.”

While the film has received critical acclaim, it has also sparked controversy, highlighting ongoing tensions over free speech and Palestinian activism both in the US and internationally.

“Freedom of expression is an important value, but defamation of Israel into a tool for international promotion is not art,” Israel’s Culture Minister Miki Zohar said in a social media post after the Oscars.

Despite its success, “No Other Land” has struggled to secure US distribution, with the filmmakers self-releasing the film through mTuckman Media.

The directors — particularly Abraham and Adra — have blamed political backlash fears as the reason for US distributors’ reluctance to acquire the rights.

The controversy comes amid heightened tensions over Palestinian activism in the US.

Earlier this week, Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia student activist and green-card holder who led the Palestinian solidarity movement during campus protests last year, was detained by immigration authorities.

President Donald Trump has alleged, without evidence, that Khalil has links to “pro-terrorist, antisemitic, anti-American activity.”

The incident has sparked an international outcry, with rights groups and media condemning Khalil’s detention as “a dangerous moment” and “a flagrant assault on free speech” that violates the First Amendment.

 


Trump adviser seeks to cut AFP, other news agency contracts

Updated 14 March 2025
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Trump adviser seeks to cut AFP, other news agency contracts

  • “We should not be paying outside news companies to tell us what the news is,” Kari Lake said on X

WASHINGTON: A senior adviser to President Donald Trump said Thursday she was moving to cancel long-established contracts between three international news agencies and the federal body that oversees US government-funded news organizations.
In a post on X announcing the move to cut the contracts with Agence France-Presse (AFP), Reuters and The Associated Press, former journalist-turned-politician and staunch Trump loyalist Kari Lake said: “We should not be paying outside news companies to tell us what the news is.”

Lake joined the US Agency for Global Media as a special adviser last month. The agency oversees a handful of media entities dedicated to reporting news and combatting censorship abroad, such as the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia.
“I moved today to cancel expensive and unnecessary newswire contracts for US Agency for Global Media, including tens of millions of dollars in contracts with The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse,” Lake said
“We should be producing news ourselves. And if that’s not possible, the American taxpayer should know why,” she added.
AFP has a number of long-running contracts to provide text, photo and video services to USAGM outlets.
Trump has made the federal-funded agencies overseen by the USAGM a particular target of his media reforms, and close adviser Elon Musk has called for VOA and Radio Free Europe to be shut down entirely for “torching” taxpayer money.
He tapped Lake in December to become the head of VOA, but she has yet to be confirmed.

 


LIV Golf signs multi-year broadcast deal with DAZN

Updated 14 March 2025
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LIV Golf signs multi-year broadcast deal with DAZN

  • Deal with streaming site DAZN will bring its golf events to more than 200 countries
  • LIV has also already agreed a deal with Fox Sports to show its 2025 season in the US

LONDON: LIV Golf announced on Friday it had secured a multi-year exclusive broadcast deal with streaming site DAZN to show its events outside the United States.
The Saudi-backed breakaway circuit had initially struggled for TV deals during its inaugural season in 2022, briefly showing tournaments for free on YouTube.
But LIV had also already agreed a deal with Fox Sports to show its 2025 season in the US.
DAZN will broadcast the LIV tour live in “more than 200 markets,” including Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Japan.
“DAZN’s cutting-edge technology and unparalleled scale give LIV Golf a significant platform to engage a truly global audience,” said LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil.
British streaming service DAZN was also recently awarded the exclusive global rights for FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup to be held in the US in June and July.
LIV Golf has been in talks with the PGA Tour over a possible deal to reunite the game since 2023.
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said earlier this week that US President Donald Trump’s intervention in negotiations had “significantly bolstered” hopes of an agreement, but admitted some hurdles remain.


Turkiye’s independent news websites face closure risk after Google changes

Updated 13 March 2025
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Turkiye’s independent news websites face closure risk after Google changes

  • Google implemented algorithm changes that led to reduction in reader traffic, outlets say
  • Spokesperson for the tech giant argues that the changes do not target individual websites and that they are designed to improve its search facility overall

ISTANBUL: Several independent media outlets in Turkiye face a potential risk of closure after algorithm changes made by Google led to a significant reduction in reader traffic, a joint statement from the outlets said on Thursday.
They said Google’s algorithm changes since the end of January had wiped out the vast majority of reader traffic to their websites, previously directed through Google’s “Discover” and “News” tools, and had harmed their finances.
Independent news websites including T24, Medyascope, Diken, and Birgun said that Google’s changes also blocked the public’s access to news, adding that they would take legal action.
“As independent media organizations operating in Turkiye, we announce that we will stand up for our corporate rights, our employees’ work and the support of our readers, which have been stolen by Google’s actions, on every platform,” they said.
They said they would apply to local and international legal bodies, notably Turkiye’s Competition Authority.
A Google spokesperson, requesting anonymity, said its changes do not target individual websites and that they are designed to improve its search facility overall.
“We don’t and would never manipulate search results, modify our products, or enforce our policies to promote or disadvantage any particular viewpoint,” the spokesperson said.
In 2024, Turkiye ranked 158th out of 180 countries in the press freedom index of the free speech advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. Its report said that with some 90 percent of Turkiye’s media under government influence, Turks recently turned to critical or independent media outlets for domestic news.
Independent media outlets in Turkiye are highly dependent on Google revenues as private companies are reluctant to advertise on independent websites.
On Wednesday, independent news outlet Gazete Duvar announced its closure, citing revenue losses triggered by Google’s algorithm changes alongside inflationary economic conditions.