Mohammed Fahad Al-Harthi, editor in chief of Sayidaty and Arab News, highlights the growth of Sayidaty during a presentation in Dubai on Wednesday.

Sayidaty, the No. 1 Arabic magazine for women, received over 39 million pageviews in April, said Mohammed Fahad Al-Harthi, editor in chief of Sayidaty and Arab News, in Dubai on Wednesday.

Al-Harthi revealed the figures while presenting a case study on the revenue-generation of magazines in Dubai Media City.

“With a strong print and digital background, Sayidaty is growing exponentially. Considering pageviews, our growth was 160 percent between April 2013 and April 2014. It was over 15 million in April 2013 and today it is touching 40 million,” he told attendees at the “Publish Live Users’ Group Meeting.”

The two-day event, organized by UK-based KnowledgeView, will discuss the main challenges facing publishers as they move to find new revenue streams.

“Sayidaty has now grown as a brand that publishes female-related content on multipublishing platforms including its website, mobile, social media and television,” Al-Harthi said. “We are strong in website content, social media, and have a tie-up with Rotana TV which enhances our reach in the visual platform.”

“The magazine has a professional team to create local content. We have separate editions for readers in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Arab countries. In addition, we are going to launch a special edition for our readers in Qatar,” he said. “We also have iPad and Android editions.”

“We are familiar with the tastes of readers and create the local content accordingly. We also create social campaigns to build loyalty among readers. Our recent campaigns, including on obesity and sexual harassment, were widely appreciated by readers.”

“Currently, 7 percent of the total income comes from the digital platform. Our target is to bring it up to 25 to 30 percent within the next three years,” he said.

“We use social media extensively to attract readers. A major part of our website readers are from social media, especially from Facebook and Twitter. We have 5 million likes on Facebook. In addition, we have 250,000 Twitter followers. Next month, we are going to launch something unique, which will further increase our revenue on the digital side,” he said.

“Our immediate competitor now has 15 million fewer pageviews than us,” he said.

Various speakers at the meeting discussed the latest trends globally for successful publishing operations.

Reiner Mittelbach, chief executive officer of Geopolitical Information Service, spoke about creating vibrant communities around news. He examined various areas of news gathering, attracting readers and content.

Ali Al-Assam, founder and chief executive officer of KnowledgeView spoke about the latest technologies and trends in digital publishing.

Omar Samy, former chairman of Al-Ahram Press House, presented a case study on Al-Ahram’s online revenue generation.

Nour Al-Masri, digital media director of Sayidaty magazine, elaborated on various programs adopted by the magazine.