EE 407 - How I Built a $15M Media Empire in the Middle East – Richard Fitzgerald’s Story

In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary Fox sits down with Richard Fitzgerald, the founder of Augustus Media, an award-winning modern media company in the UAE and KSA, publishers of Lovin Dubai, Lovin Saudi, and Smashi TV.

With a background in media and advertising since 2006, Richard worked at agencies in Ireland, England, and the UAE before building a regional social media department at Mindshare MENA and later becoming Managing Director of a creative technology start-up.

In 2015, he launched Augustus Media, a ‘new media’ company that has since expanded across the Middle East, winning Best SME Company at the 2018 MENA EFFIE Awards. Today, Augustus operates Lovin brands in multiple cities, including Dubai, Saudi, Bahrain, Cairo, Riyadh, and Sharjah, and in 2019, they added ODEUM, a dedicated content studio, to their growing media empire.

Richard reveals the strategies he used to scale his media brands, the challenges of monetising digital media, and why he believes traditional media is broken.

If you’re building a content brand or looking to scale your business in a competitive market, this is a must-listen!

🎧 Show Notes: In this episode, we cover:

🔥 How Richard turned Lovin Dubai into a media powerhouse from scratch

🚀 The strategies he used to growth-hack his way to millions of pageviews

💡 The future of media & why traditional outlets are struggling to adapt 

🌍 Expanding across the Middle East: The challenges of entering new markets (Dubai, Saudi, Bahrain, Cairo, Riyadh & more!)

 🔑 How Lovin and Smashi became the region’s leading digital media brands 📈 Revenue, investment, and why he rejected buyout offers

🎥 The role of ODEUM, Augustus Media’s content studio

🎤 Hiring journalists vs. content creators – what media needs now

📌 Resources & Links: 📖 Learn more about Augustus Media: https://weareaugustus.com/

📰 Follow Lovin brands across the Middle East: https://lovin.co/

🎥 Check out Smashi TV – https://smashi.tv/en

🎬 Discover ODEUM – Augustus Media’s content studio: https://weareaugustus.com/odeum/

📱 Connect with Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fitzyrichard/

💬 “I didn’t want to think about fundraising or exits—I wanted to build something real, something that lasts.” – Richard Fitzgerald

 

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