ARY Digital Network CEO Jerjees Seja on importance of UAE market, audience

ARY Digital, a television and digital channel headquartered in Dubai, is headed by the media maverick Jerjees Seja. As ARY Digital Network CEO, Seja produces television shows, films and green-lights projects that become commercial successes. ARY’s record-breaking films and dramas with a billion-plus views are among those that can be attributed to its leadership.

Seja has been one of the oldest members of the channel under the leadership of Salman Iqbal, who established it when Dubai Media City was in its early stages. City Times sat down with Seja, a man with razor-sharp focus on not just his channel and its content but also the diaspora audience. 

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The importance of the diaspora

Seja, or JJ, as he is fondly called within the fraternity and outside, is a soft-spoken man from Karachi, who balances art and commerce. His job isn’t easy, but he makes it look like it can be.

“We always consider the diaspora,” Jerjees replies when asked how important the audiences are here to ARY. “We have a separate channel, a dedicated feed for the Middle East. It shows how much we focus on this audience. After Pakistan, this is one of the most crucial territories for us. The love for our content is much bigger than it ever was, so we get a wider audience as well. Not to mention how easy shooting is here, thanks to the familiarity and culture.” 

On promoting content in the UAE, Jerjees said, “The best thing about the UAE is that it’s friendly and easy. The marketing and the promotions that we do, they always receive us with open arms. We get new ideas, avenues and it becomes a launching pad for our movies and our content for the rest of the world, e.g. UK, USA, etc."

But it isn’t just ARY’s films that have found love in the UAE and beyond. ARY’s dramas have a dedicated Arabic feed and social media. How and why do these stories connect to an audience for whom this language may be alien?

“Our dramas are not based on location, they’re based on stories,” Jerjees explains. “If you have a family story, it can be in Pakistan, it can be anywhere outside of it. We’re focused on characters that can relate to everyone. That’s why they're able to connect globally with Urdu speaking viewers.”  

The Pakistani drama phenomenon

On the Pakistani drama phenomenon catching on in a big way, he says, “Earlier the Pakistani drama brand was possibly struggling with identity. Somehow, we've managed to break the code. Now people know: if it’s a Pakistani drama it’s real, it’s relatable, it’s real, we see these characters moving around us. As creators and storytellers, we’re not just focused on narrative or storyline—we have created a feeling in the audience, who watch our dramas and can say, 'oh I know this character! I know this story! I’ve been through this!'"

“Sometimes you tend to live in your own bubble, so we have to take criticism, and we have to learn from it,” he replies, when asked about ARY's feedback loop and how his team handles criticism.

“We must be able to create a process where constructive criticism is a part of your feedback loop. We do have that process at ARY. The feedback can come from ratings data, YouTube data, social media comments; it’s not just the number of views, it’s much deeper than that. We monitor noise. You must learn how to read between the lines. Someone they might say, 'hey I don’t like this'—but that’s too vague. What is it that they like? What else do they like? We constantly try to make sure that we’re on top of that.” 

ARY has a slew of big projects slated for the coming year.

"We’re doing two big movies this year,” he announces. “Fahad Mustafa and Mahira Khan’s film is all set to release on Eid Al Fitr. JPNA 3 (the third instalment to the Jawaani Phir Nahi Aani series) is also slated to release this year. Mirza Jatt is in the pipeline. And of course, many big dramas. It all has to be bigger than before.”