Walid Kassabji: Media, Marketing, and Monetization Leader Building Brands, Audiences, and Revenue Engines

Walid Kassabji is a growth‑driven marketing, media, and monetization leader with more than 20 years of experience building brands, scaling audiences, and turning content ecosystems into high‑performing revenue engines across MENA. From streaming platforms and media networks to FMCG, telecom, banking, retail, and tech, his career reflects a rare ability to connect brand, product, audience, and revenue in one cohesive growth strategy.

Defining the Media Business at Digitect

As General Manager Media at Digitect, Walid leads the overall media business across the MENA region, aligning strategy, operations, budgets, and performance with the agency’s growth objectives. He defines media vision, oversees planning and optimization, and mentors cross‑functional teams to deliver campaigns that perform across digital, offline, and hybrid channels.

His role at Digitect focuses on building omnichannel acquisition and engagement engines, ensuring that media investments translate into measurable impact for clients—whether through brand awareness, user growth, or revenue outcomes.

Launching and Monetizing Yango Play in MENA

Walid’s work at Yango Play showcases his strength in launching products, scaling audiences, and designing monetization structures from the ground up.

As Chief Marketing Officer – MENA, he led the launch of Yango Play across the region, achieving over 1M users in under a year, strong brand awareness, and meaningful top‑of‑mind metrics through coordinated multi‑market campaigns, partnerships, and app experience improvements.

Stepping into the role of Chief Monetization Officer – MENA, he built and led the commercial and monetization function:

• Designing new revenue streams, pricing models, and retail/partnership channels.

• Overseeing brand integrations, native placements, sponsorships, and voucher distribution.

• Expanding non‑telco partnerships and retail networks to strengthen platform reach and commercial resilience.

• Together, these roles show his ability to take a new digital product from launch to structured, scalable revenue.

Scaling Shahid into MENA’s Leading Arabic VOD Platform

At Shahid, Walid played a central role in repositioning and scaling the platform:

• Helped re‑launch Shahid and Shahid VIP, contributing to its rise as the #1 Arabic VOD platform in MENA.

• Led B2B partnerships marketing, expanding partners from around 10 to 100+, driving subscription growth across GCC and North Africa.

• Managed AVOD commercial operations, creating new ad formats, monetization models, and content‑driven revenue streams.

• Launched creator programs, FAST channels, and short‑form content, increasing both ad capacity and audience engagement.

• This phase of his career underlines his expertise in subscription growth, hybrid (SVOD/AVOD) models, and ecosystem‑based monetization.

Agency and Commercial Leadership Across Sectors

Before his platform roles, Walid built a strong base in media agencies and commercial leadership:

• At Media Zone KSA, he grew Riyadh revenues from roughly $3M to $25M, secured flagship national campaigns, and expanded team capabilities across ATL, BTL, and digital.

• At Initiative Media, he grew billing accounts from around $15M to $80M+, managing large portfolios across FMCG, banking, retail, and technology.

• At OMD Arabia, he oversaw major client billings and led data‑driven campaigns that significantly lifted client revenue.

• Earlier, as Sales and Marketing Manager in Lebanon, he increased sales by expanding distribution networks and driving consistent market activation.

• Across these roles, Walid has managed marketing portfolios in the $40M–$80M range, proving his ability to handle scale, complexity, and performance accountability.

How He Works and What Drives Him

Walid is known for blending:

• Data‑driven decision making with on‑the‑ground commercial instincts.

• Strong cross‑functional leadership across product, media, content, and partnerships.

• Strategic thinking and hands‑on execution, ensuring plans translate into results.

He thrives in environments where innovation meets scale—where customer experience, brand equity, and revenue all grow together. His top skills span marketing strategy and brand leadership, monetization and ad sales, user acquisition and CRM, strategic partnerships and B2B collaboration, and media planning, buying, and optimization.

The Saudi Leaders recognise Walid Kassabji as a proven media and marketing executive who builds scalable growth platforms, trusted partnerships, and brands that deliver lasting value across the streaming, media, and digital economy landscape.