PIF’s Seven is courting new IP partners as its Saudi rollout grows

Saudi Entertainment Ventures (Seven) is in partnership talks with new global entertainment brands now that it has venues on the ground to show them, Chief Projects Officer Abdulelah AlFawzan tells EnterpriseAM. The PIF-owned operator is preparing to open at least two more entertainment destinations this year and shift from building its SAR 35 bn-plus portfolio to running it. Seven is part of PIF-owned Qiddiya Investment Company. Its nationwide rollout is part of the Kingdom’s push to build a domestic entertainment industry, keep more consumer spending at home, and diversify economic activity beyond oil.

Having open venues changes the pitch. Seven’s first entertainment hubs in Abha and Tabuk are now operational, giving the company something tangible to show potential international partners after years spent developing the network. “Now, as we move to operation, more and more IPs believe in what we are doing,” AlFawzan said. “At the beginning, we were a newly established company, so people [asked], ‘Why give you my name?’ But now Seven is on the ground.”

AlFawzan says discussions are underway with “a couple” of international intellectual property owners, but declined to identify them before agreements are signed. Seven already works with brands including Warner Bros. Discovery, Hasbro’s Transformers, and Formula E, alongside attractions developed in-house.

The venues so far: Abha and Tabuk have drawn more than 82k visitors between them to date — 48k in Abha and 34k in Tabuk — and built operations teams totaling 364 employees, 191 in Abha and 173 in Tabuk, according to figures provided by Seven.

More openings are near. At least two more destinations are expected to open this year, with Madinah, Yanbu, and Riyadh among the projects approaching delivery. Seven currently has 14 destinations under development across 13 Saudi cities, backed by more than SAR 35 bn in direct development capital, AlFawzan says, part of a broader investment program previously put at more than SAR 50 bn. AlFawzan says the longer-term ambition remains at least 21 destinations, with further expansion dependent on demand.

But Seven isn’t spending equally everywhere. Investment decisions are being made city by city, based on population, purchasing power, expected demand, and returns. The investment in Tabuk, AlFawzan says, is less than a third of what Seven is putting into its Riyadh projects. “We didn’t build a huge development in a smaller city. That’s the most important investment decision,” he says. “There is a balance between enhancing the quality of life, being a national champion of entertainment, diversifying the economy, and making sure that the return on your investment is acceptable to your shareholders.”

How does Seven decide what to build? The company surveyed more than 24k people to understand entertainment preferences and developed 19 attraction types that can be combined differently depending on the market. They range from cinemas, bowling, and golf to water parks and ski slopes, allowing Seven to vary both the size and attraction mix of each destination.