ONE Championship targets Middle East expansion, inks global partnership with Media City Qatar

Group ONE Holdings, the parent company of ONE Championship, and Media City Qatar signed a Memorandum of Understanding that aims to develop a strategic long-term partnership.

The partnership was announced at the Qatar Economic Forum, powered by Bloomberg.

Group ONE Holdings and Media City Qatar’s partnership also entails collaboration between the parties in the production and development of a wide range of global content in Qatar across multiple media sectors. This includes original programming, studio shows, and esports, eventually strengthening Qatar’s ever-growing media landscape.

Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah bin Khalifa Al-Thani, CEO of Media City Qatar, in a statement shared by Group ONE Holdings, said of the partnership:

“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.”

Similarly, ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong said the partnership will greatly boost the organization’s presence in the Middle East.

Sityodtong added that ONE has always eyed the Middle East as a burgeoning hub for the organization’s general goals.

"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. We are excited to bring ONE closer to all our fans in Qatar and across the Middle East.”

Sityodtong added:

“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.”

---

The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition season two to heavily feature Qatar

To fully incorporate the partnership into Group ONE Holdings’ fold, the country of Qatar will feature prominently in the filming of season two of the hit reality series The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition, which is streamed across 150 countries.

Judging from the success of season one, the second series could be even bigger.

Together with Media City Qatar, season two may just eclipse the estimated four million viewers of the opening season's premiere broadcast in 2021.

On top of its supreme reach, the first season took home awards for “Best Non-Scripted Entertainment” and “Best Adaptation of an Existing Format” at the Asian Academy Creative Awards last year.