Piracy & Politics
Piracy remains a major challenge in MENA. A piracy survey from security specialist Irdeto found that over half of respondents in MENA (59% in Egypt and 53% in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) watched pirated content. 20% of 18-24 year-olds in the GCC pirate more than once a week.
Saudi Arabia has been under scrutiny recently because of its refusal to shut down pirate platform beoutQ. BeoutQ has been allowed to thrive because of Saudi Arabia and UAE’s diplomatic stand off with Qatar, which is home to MENA’s leading PayTV platform beIN.
BeIN’s business has suffered at the hands of beoutQ, which systematically pirates content owned by or licensed to the Qatari-headquartered company. International rights holders have condemned Saudi Arabia’s complicity with beoutQ, but as yet the issue is unresolved.
In the meantime, beIN has said it will be forced to reduce its investment in live sports rights if the issue of beoutQ piracy is not unresolved [beIN Media worked with content security providers Cisco and Nagra and transmission services provider Overon to confirm its suspicions that beoutQ was illegally distributing its content].
Another big factor that has impacted on MENA in recent years is the decline in oil prices, which has taken its toll in terms of investment in broadcasting infrastructure.
Prices were at a low in 2015/16 but have improved since then. With oil price stability, the mood for media sector investment is returning.
20% of 18-24 year-olds in the GCC pirate more than once a week.
