Elie Habib, CEO Anghami and OSN+Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) will host Fresh Global Media Players: Disrupting the Digital Ecosystem? on October 29, 2026, bringing together international scholars and media industry leaders to examine how emerging platforms, business models, and regional industries are disrupting the digital media ecosystem and challenging established structures of global communication power.
Revisiting questions raised at NU-Q’s first Fresh Global Media Players symposium in 2015, the event asks whether new players are transforming established media hierarchies or reproducing existing inequalities.
The symposium features three research sessions spanning the geopolitics of digital media, monetization and business models, and regional media industries. The program also includes a fireside chat with Elie Habib, CEO of Anghami and OSN+, examining the changing streaming landscape and its implications for regional and global media markets.
Anghami, a regional music streaming platform, became the first Arab technology company listed on Nasdaq in 2022. OSN+ is a leading Middle Eastern streaming service offering Arabic and international entertainment, including HBO.
The first session, Geopolitics of Digital Media, features Dani Madrid-Morales and Myrtle Ziwei Zeng of the University of Sheffield, and Joan Letting of Simon Fraser University. Their research examines news flows on YouTube, platform migration and digital belonging, and independent investigative media in East Africa.
The second session, Monetization and Business Models, brings together Swapnil Rai of the University of Michigan, Po-Hsi Wu of the University of Westminster, and Gowreesh V.S. of Jawaharlal Nehru University. Their presentations explore asymmetrical media networks, Chinese investment in global digital games, and India’s independent digital-first music sector.
The final session, A Regional Outlook, features Kay Dickinson of the University of Glasgow; Najat Alsheridah, an independent scholar based in Kuwait; and Mohammed Mohammed of LUT University, whose research with Lobna Hassan, also of LUT University, examines the region’s esports ecosystem. The session addresses Netflix and Kuwaiti television cultures, alongside participation, tradition, and cultural barriers in Middle Eastern and North African esports.
“Who shapes the digital ecosystem is no longer only an academic question. It determines what audiences everywhere see, share, and believe.”
"Who shapes the digital ecosystem is no longer only an academic question. It determines what audiences everywhere see, share, and believe," said NU-Q Dean and CEO Marwan M. Kraidy. "Answering it takes the intellectual rigor and independent inquiry we value at NU-Q, and bringing scholars from around the world to Qatar lets us pursue it from a vantage point the field has too often overlooked."
The symposium builds on NU-Q’s 2015 Fresh Global Media Players symposium, which examined the redistribution of global communication power and led to a special section of the International Journal of Communication. Continuing this scholarly collaboration, the organizers plan to propose a second special section featuring research developed through the 2026 symposium.
Organized by NU-Q faculty Joe F. Khalil and William Youmans, the symposium takes place Thursday, October 29, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at NU-Q . It is intended for faculty, researchers, graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and members of the wider academic and media communities.
The fireside chat with Elie Habib will take place in the University’s auditorium on October 29, from 1:15 to 2:15 p.m. For the full program and speaker details, visit https://www.qatar.northwestern.edu/events/global-media-symposium.html.
