Dubai | Digital out-of-home has long dominated roadside locations and media façades. Now, floating DooH vessels are the latest trend – bringing screens to the audience instead of waiting for the audience to pass by. While many cities have banned the concept, Dubai has taken it to an entirely new level.
Floating Screens: How Dubai Takes DooH Offshore
Attempts to bypass strict roadside regulations with floating LED screens have failed in many cities. In New York, backlash was so strong that lawmakers quickly banned the practice, citing aesthetic, environmental, and navigational concerns.
Dubai, however, embraced the idea and delivered a world-first: MV Illuminate, the only 3D digital vessel globally, wrapped in 520 m² of LED displays on all sides. The screens feature rounded edges and 3D effects, with an 8mm pixel pitch delivering UHD visuals at 9,000 cd/m² – bright enough for Dubai’s sunny desert days.
A Floating Stage and Iconic Advertising Screen
Each side of the vessel boasts LED panels measuring 25.8m long and 5.25m high, offering ample space for DooH campaigns or live streaming of sports and entertainment. Event the top of the vessel has been completely covered with a LED for better visibility from surrounding high rise buildings. Unique to MV Illuminate is its DJ stage and 2,000-watt sound system, transforming the LED vessel into a floating party platform for beach events.
Built in the UAE in 2022, MV Illuminate cruises 365 days a year, from 07:00 to 23:00, covering Dubai Creek, Palm Jumeirah, and Dubai Marina – enabling maximum exposure in the city’s most iconic locations. Operator Blue Ad not only manages MV Illuminate but also serves as the exclusive sales agent for OoH advertising on Dubai’s RTA public ferries. The founding team brings years of experience from operating floating DooH vessels on Moscow’s river – now setting new DooH standards in Dubai.
It remains to be seen how advertisers and agencies are warming up with floating DooH, while between 800,000 to a million cars are passing by the many DooH screens along Dubai’s main artery Sheikh Zayed Road (SZR) – albeit much less cool and without sound.
