Dr. Houda Koussa is the founder and managing director of Archers, a Dubai-based brand and research consultancy that turns audience insight into actionable business, media and marketing strategies.
She is one of the region’s leading specialists in audience measurement. Houda is strategic consultant to the Media Rating Company (MRC), which owns audience measurement in Saudi Arabia, and was technical consultant on the UAE cross-media audience measurement project. She also advises Rotana Media and MBC Group.
Her work focuses on how audiences discover, consume and engage with content across platforms, and what that means for programming, marketing and advertising decisions.
She brings more than two decades of experience across media groups, regional ad multinational brands.
Before Archers, Houda spent six years at Starcom MediaVest Group, where she founded Business Compass, the first research consultancy unit in a media agency in the region. She is also co-founder of YouthToPro, a social enterprise preparing Arab university students for an AI-transformed labour market.
An experienced panel moderator, she regularly leads panels, fireside chats and insight-based workshops with C-Suite, media and marketing leaders across the region.
As a juror, Houda brings a research-led lens, looking for work built on genuine audience insight and results backed by credible evidence.
She holds a PhD in Mass Communication and Research from Louisiana State University and an MS from Boston University.