(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Relatively unheard of in the region until recently FNDTVs Haris Effendi says video blogging is only going to get bigger and better
It has been an interesting two and a half years for 25-year-old Yorkshire born Haris Effendi. Since moving to Abu Dhabi with his wife Holly in late 2012 the enterprising Brit has set up his own media company and grown an audience from scratch for his regular vlog posts on www.youtube.com/FNDTV and www.youtube.com/MyAbuDhabiLife. Covering everything from celebrity visits to test drives the videos provide a glimpse into life in the fast-lane for which the UAE is famous and Haris’ ever-increasing viewership signifies people can’t get enough.
Here we speak to the biggest video blogger in the UAE about his journey plans on vlogging his child’s birth and what the future holds.
How did you get into vlogging and how did you make it your full time job How do you make money doing it What brought you over to Abu Dhabi
I own an independent media company - www.youtube.com/FNDTV which is my full-time job covering big events and working with celebrities. This started in the UK where I worked my way up from very small events in cities nobody has even heard of to the biggest events in the poshest parts of Manchester and London. This is also where the vlogging came in I started the vlogs to show behind the scenes which were titled ‘Man Behind The Cam’ as I covered some amazing events and as my videos gathered recognition my name got out and everyone wanted to know who the man behind the camera was.
At the moment Holly and I don’t make money from YouTube it’s just a hobby which we are very passionate about and we spend a lot of our time vlogging our daily life. We do however make money through sponsorship and marketing from hotel reviews product launches test-drives etc.
I moved to Abu Dhabi to build my independent media company here. I’d visited the UAE many times before and noticed that there was a lot of opportunity here for me. I loved the lifestyle and I wanted to live it while building a future for myself and my family.
The first year was very tough a lot of outgoing expenses but not much incoming so I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs. It took a lot of hard work socialising and meeting the right people to get opportunities to show my work.
I continued to vlog through all the tough times and my audience started to grow significantly. I started to get some really great support through the vlogs which motivated me even more to keep going and pushing forward.
Do you have any professional filming training
I studied at university in the UK and got my degree in filmmaking but this wasn’t hands -on experience. In order to get the experience I needed I had to go out buy my own camera and shoot and edit as much as possible to get used to it.
What is the purpose of your video blog
The purpose is to showcase the UAE as a whole. It’s such an amazing place to live. It’s also to motivate and inspire my audience to chase their dreams. If you work hard you can achieve anything. The final purpose for the vlogs is to make people smile to make my audience feel better. As soon as you subscribe to the channel you become a part of the family #TEAMFND.
Do your films have a message It appears to focus on the opulence of the UAE. Is that something your audience demands Is there scope for highlighting other issues
The opulence of the UAE is not something my audience demands but they do enjoy it. They love seeing different things in the UAE and have loads of questions. Sometimes I’m totally shocked with comments coming in from places such as New York Mexico Algeria and Brazil . I come from a very small city in the UK which shows that the message I’m pushing is real. I’m very open to highlighting other issues I like to think I’m a very open about real life things so if some things come up which I should mention or focus on in the vlogs then I will.
Where do you see the future of vlogging going
We have some really big plans for the the near future! I hope to build my YouTube family and continue to spread the love through my videos continue to showcase this amazing country as it continues to grow. I will possibly collaborate with UAE Travel & Tourism.
You are currently in the middle of a project involving your wife’s pregnancy. What inspired you both to do it Are you concerned about privacy issues
Holly is three months pregnant. We will be vlogging the entire pregnancy including regular updates with the doctor showing scans and talking about our experiences. We are planning on vlogging the birth also which will make us the first video bloggers in the UAE to broadcast the actual birth. It is a big project and our first baby so a very special moment we’ll be capturing and uploading to our channel. You always have to be careful about privacy not so show your exact address or too much information about your family. But other than that there are no problems we’re happy to show our daily life and share our videos with the world.
How similar are you to your on screen persona Is it completely you Can anyone vlog What advice would you give someone following your footsteps
My wife and myself are both exactly the same people as we are on camera. That’s what we pride ourselves on. Many vloggers are very fake or scripted. With our vlogs we are more than happy to show both negative and positive things that come up in our daily life.
I do think anyone can vlog. It actually serves as an amazing tool for getting things off your chest as well as cheering up your audience.
Having said that you also need to have thick skin when reading comments there are a lot of negative people who love to try and bring you down when they see you finding success.
What would your ideal future look like
My ideal future would be to expand my media company while also taking the vlogs to another level working with many different companies and collaborating with as many people as possible.
It would be great if #MyAbuDhabiLife vlogs became part of the growth Abu Dhabi and Dubai has planned over the next 5 years.
Were you always into social media
No I have only started regularly posting on sites like Twitter Instagram and Facebook due to the crossover I have with my YouTube videos and posting them on all of my socials.
Do you have a message for the UAE
It would be great if everyone reading this article could check out the channel - www.youtube.com/MyAbuDhabiLife and hit that subscribe button if they enjoy the vlogs you can also follow me on FNDTV on Twitter and Instagram and FNDTV on Facebook to keep up to date with everything we have coming up!
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