Netflix has long been considered the king of entertainment streaming — but no one gets to be the king forever.
Sure enough, that royal status may be in danger in Arabic-speaking countries, with The Hollywood Reporter reporting that the streaming giant is likely to lose its crown by 2029. Poised to take its place is current second-place competitor Shahid VIP, a platform owned by Middle Eastern media giant MBC Group — a company with a majority stake held by the Saudi government.
According to research firm Digital TV Research, the 14 million subscription video on demand subscriptions in Arab-speaking countries are expected to climb to 26 million by 2029, and companies around the world are fighting for a piece of that pie. By the end of 2023, Shahid VIP was already hot on Netflix’s heels, with 3.5 million subscribers compared to Netflix’s 3.8 million. Digital TV Research projects that by 2029, those figures will shift in Shahid VIP’s favor, with the company hitting 5.8 million subscribers against Netflix’s 5.6 million.
“As some of the U.S.-based platforms lower their global rollout and local content commitments, the Arabic players will thrive,” Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, told The Hollywood Reporter.
StarzPlay, now at third place with 3 million subscribers, is forecasted to remain at bronze level with 5 million subscribers in 2029. Disney+ and Amazon, meanwhile, are both expected to achieve 3.2 million subscribers by the same year.
Complicating the picture yet further is the introduction of new blood in the streaming media fight. The National News reports that at the end of 2023, Dubai-based streaming service OSN+ merged with Anghami — already large enough to be listed on the Nasdaq and the first Arabic tech company to boast the achievement. The result is a $100 million-revenue business with 120 million registered users and 2.5 million subscribers, The National News reports.
“Joining forces with OSN+ is a leap in Anghami’s journey to reinvent entertainment in the Arab World,” Elie Habib, co-founder of Anghami, told The National News. “We’re bringing together technology, music and video to build a comprehensive media ecosystem.”
While Anghami started as a music streaming company in 2012, its recent business moves suggest the company aims to compete in the video streaming market as well, in addition to other entertainment business ventures like a record label, live events, and more. OSN, meanwhile, continues to operate its linear TV business OSNtv, headed up by Group Chief Executive Joe Kawkabani.
“As two home-grown entities with an unmatched understanding of the local market, we are confident that this new offering will change the face of the regional streaming landscape," Kawkabani told The National News.
It’s a highly competitive landscape in a region with its own unique dynamics. For instance, ComputerWeekly.com reports that VPNs — virtual private networks that mask the user’s IP address and location — are particularly popular in Arabic countries to circumvent internet and bandwidth restrictions. Four of the top-five countries for VPN downloads are Arabic countries, with the United Arab Emirates, the number-one country on the list, accounting for 4.27 million downloads alone.