New OTT Entrants Prove Pessimists Wrong
OTT Launch Prospects
Tough competition, combined with a severe piracy problem, would appear to signal that opportunities for new PayTV or OTT entrants to enter MENA are limited.
Even more important than in other markets, survival in the MENA OTT market requires: investment in compelling content, competitive price points, simple billing, an exceptional user experience and marketing muscle/pre-existing brand awareness.
For reasons such as these, analyst DTVR predicts that the top eight SVOD platforms already in the region will hold a monopoly over the region, controlling 95% of the market in 2024. (Netflix, Amazon, Icflix, Starz Play, Iflix, Wavo, beIN Connect and Shahid Plus). Market analyst AT Kearney calls MENA’s OTT market “crowded” and suggests it is “unlikely to be able to sustain such a large number of pure OTT operators”.
However, there are opponents to this view that possess a more optimistic outlook. Among those attempting to disprove this view is Intigral, which unveiled OTT streaming service Jawwy TV during 2018. A subsidiary of Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC), Intigral also launched a new set top box called the HomeBox, which has an integrated OTT element.
Tony Saab, VP of Products & Content, Intigral says the aim “is to make Jawwy the MENA region’s best OTT platform and we are exploring partnerships with numerous platforms, in addition to creating our own content and acquiring Arabic content.”
While beIN Media dominates sports in MENA, Abu Dhabi Media has joined forces with mixed martial arts franchise UFC to launch an Arabic-language OTT subscription service across the region. Another challenger to MENA’s SVOD incumbents is global digital platform Zee5, which views MENA as a priority because of the diaspora of South Asians in The Middle East.
DTVR predicts that the top eight SVOD platforms will control 95% of the market in 2024. (Fig 3.1)
However, opponent of this view, Intigral, unveiled Jawwy TV streaming service in 2018 and also launched new set top box, HomeBox.
