Augustus July Newsletter

July’s tribute captures all things media, thought leadership, content and business development. Keep track of Augustus Media brands; Lovin Dubai, Lovin Saudi, Smashi and ODEUM. Let’s take a deep dive into content & campaign highlights, along with our current commercial updates.

Message From The CEO

📈 Augustus Media & The Rise Of Local Content

Media and advertising commentators frequently debate whether this region is keeping pace with global trends. We recently compared Lad Bible Group and Augustus Media, examining their years, revenues, personnel, and more differences. Despite globalization, some markets retain distinct characteristics, and digital media is no exception. I firmly believe that in the three core mediums of the 21st century—social media, primary platforms (like email, media apps, and messaging apps), and streaming (both audio and video)—we're witnessing significant growth in this region. Spending on social networks, streaming services, and influencers has surged, as has the time spent on these platforms. The key question remains: how many of these mediums are developed locally, and how much content originates from this region? That's a narrative for the coming decade. We predict that we'll see a substantial increase in homegrown contributions to the broader media ecosystem.

Richard Fitzgerald
CEO & Founder

📱 All Things Content

Despite the traditionally slow summer season, our Lovin brands in Saudi, Dubai, and Egypt have outperformed forecasts, driving significant growth and engagement. Lovin Saudi have seen impressive achievements, with face-to-camera videos leading to a 10 percent jump in follower growth on TikTok within a month and a total of 25 million total views. Lovin Saudi’s impressions soared to 22.4 million, with a 6 million reach and 476k engagement, while Lovin Riyadh’s impressions reached 16.3 million, with a 6.9 million reach.

In Dubai, it seems like the quiet summer months are a thing of the past! It’s been a busy month for The Lovin Dubai Show, as we’ve welcomed stars like Nora Fatehi, Mo Vlogs, and Karim Usama to our studios. We’re thrilled about our cross-platform growth: Lovin Dubai’s Instagram account gained 40k new followers, our Instagram Threads grew by 20k, and the likes on our TikTok account have grown by 43% in one month alone. We introduced advertising on our WhatsApp channel with "The Daily Steal," a new way for clients to reach an engaged audience.

More than halfway through the year, Lovin Cairo has also experienced a remarkable 45.4% increase in its Instagram following. The team has focused on the summer season, sharing impressive and heartwarming stories of Egyptian athletes during the Olympics and showcasing inspiring stories of locals making a difference. The growth doesn’t stop there. Lovin Cairo has also seen a surge in its social media presence, with 25,000 tweet views for top-performing posts in just one week. Lovin Cairo has also enjoyed successful paid campaigns with popular brands like Talabat, POD, and the Knowledge Hub University, and we were a media sponsor for the TriFactory Sports Summit. These milestones reflect our strong audience engagement and effective content strategies, solidifying our position as a leading media platform in the region.

Saima Iqbal
Senior Content Director

👀 Into Business Performance

July has been a slower month commercially, as expected during the peak summer period. This has given us valuable time to focus on enhancing our offerings and working on PR and marketing-related projects. Below are the highlights for the month:

Commercial Successes: Despite the seasonal slowdown, we have secured significant campaigns with major brands across the region:

• Dubai Tourism - for the Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS)

• MDL Beast - for their upcoming events

• Abu Dhabi Tourism in partnership with UFC

• Amazon for Prime Day promotions

• Samsung - for the launch of the Flip Series

• Emaar At the Top campaigns

• Nakheel for their latest project launches 

Additionally, we celebrated our first paid collaboration with Lovin Dammam, marking a milestone in our continued expansion of Lovin Cities

Marketing Partnerships: We've rolled out several exciting partnerships that have enhanced our brand presence:

• Coca-Cola Euro’s Fan Zone collaboration

• Social Knockout 3 partnership

• Disney On Ice marketing efforts

PR Achievements:

• Lovin Dubai proudly won The Best Digital Media Brand at the Filmfare Awards, solidifying our position as a leading digital media outlet in the region.

• The Augustus Podcast Network announcement received excellent PR coverage, with features in leading publications across the region.

As we move forward, our focus remains on building upon these successes, strengthening our brand, and preparing for a busy season ahead.

Mayowa Tola-Voss
Senior Commercial Director