Middle Eastern streamers dominate local screens with Buzzy series
While Netflix dominates much of the world, the American streaming giant has yet to dominate the Middle East, where competition is increasingly fierce.
Streaming is booming in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, where the OTT subscription video market saw robust 13% growth in 2023, led by local players Shahid and StarzPlay, according to media analyst Omdia. It expects streaming revenue to reach $1.2 billion by 2024.
According to Omdia, Shahid – part of Saudi linear TV operator and streamer MBC Group – leads the MENA streaming market with a 22% share thanks to its 3.6 million subscribers by the end of 2023.
“Shahid’s strength lies in its extensive local Arabic content, which resonates deeply with regional audiences, especially during Ramadan,” the region’s peak season, even as “year-round content production has smoothed seasonal subscription fluctuations ,” the report notes.
StarzPlay Arabia follows closely with an 18% market share and 3 million subscribers, while Netflix follows closely with a 17% MENA market share, according to Omdia.
As far as scripted originals go, Arabic adaptations of Turkish dramas are a fairly recent development at MBC. MBC Studios director Samar Akrouk says Turkish shows are “fantastic for acquisition and for new subs, and absolutely perfect for retention to keep our attrition rate low.” Moreover, because Arabic remakes of Turkish shows have been running for a long time, “you get a very loyal viewership,” Akrouk notes.
Two examples of this at MBC are ‘Al Ameel’, the Arabic iteration of the Turkish hit ‘Içerde’ (‘Insider’), about two brothers who are torn apart as children and end up on opposite sides of the law as adults. The series was launched on Shahid in August. Also coming is MBC original ‘Mother’, a show that focuses on child abuse and is essentially an Arabic repeat of a Japanese drama previously staged for the Turkish market. Both shows stem from a five-year pact that MBC Group signed in 2022 with Turkish TV powerhouses Medyapim and Ay Yapim.
Ties between MENA media players and Turkey are also firmly established with Qatar-based powerhouse beIN Media Group – co-owner of US indie studio Miramax. The TOD streaming platform currently has a 4% share of the MENA streaming market and is available in both MENA and Turkey. BeIN also owns Digiturk, the leading pay-TV operator in Turkey. TOD’s latest Turkish series “Sorgu” (“Interrogation”), a police procedural revolving around a female cop, will be released in Turkey as well as in MENA, where the dubbing will take place.
Mia Edde, VP of Original Content at beIN Media Group, says that since beIN operates in both MENA and Turkey, it doesn’t really make sense to make Arabic remakes of Turkish shows. Instead, beIN has produced ‘Sarab’ (also called ‘Mirage’), a high-quality Arabic adaptation of ‘Seven Types of Ambiguity’, the Australian TV series about the kidnapping of a child, told from the alternating perspectives of seven characters . The series transforms the original suburban Melbourne into an Egyptian setting.
“It is a 100% adaptation with a completely local focus,” says Edde, who points out that the Arabic cultural prism adds “another depth and dimension” to the story of the “Seven Types”.
Western IP’s standout Arabic adaptation this year is MBC’s version of ‘The Good Wife’, starring Tunisian-Egyptian star Hend Sabry. In June, the series launched with top ratings in MENA on Shahid.
Sabry also tops Netflix’s Arabic hit “Finding Ola,” in which she plays a Cairo divorcee who happily embarks on a journey of self-discovery. The second season of ‘Finding Ola’ was released at the end of September. In early October, Netflix launched ‘Love Is Blind, Habibi’, a United Arab Emirates spin-off of its smash hit dating show featuring Arab singles looking for love that is likely to increase their numbers in MENA.
But what is still missing in the Arab TV world is a local original that can travel beyond the region.
That said, StarzPlay Arabia recently pulled off a notable feat by selling “Million Dollar Listing UAE” – the first non-America adaptation of Bravo’s long-running luxury real estate reality franchise – to the Roku Channel in the US. The bilingual show, featuring five United Real Estate Agents from the Arab Emirates selling and trading lavish properties in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, has broken ratings on the streamer which has been smart in “identifying and filling content gaps in the region,” as the Omdia report puts it.
