Entertainment MENA’s Super Streamers

It’s not just international platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ entertaining the masses in the Middle East. Here are four of the most popular MENA-based video streaming services.

Shahid

Headquarters: U.A.E.

Launched: 2011

Subscribers: Over three million

Shahid is a streaming service run by MBC GROUP, offering Arabic content to its subscribers across MENA, including exclusive Shahid Originals, Shahid Premieres, Arabic movies, and live TV channels, as well as international offerings, sports, kids’ content, and more than 40 FAST channels. Its recent notable works include Rashash, the Saudi version of the global mockumentary The Office, Family Matters, Room 207, and Casa Street, the first Moroccan Shahid Original. With over three million subscribers as of April 2023, Shahid’s top markets are Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Shahid has partnerships with Sony PlayStation MENA, Samsung TV MENA, LG MENA, and telecom companies, including stc in Saudi, Zain Group in Saudi, Kuwait, and Iraq, and Vodafone in Egypt.

Starzplay

Headquarters: U.A.E.

Launched: 2014

Subscribers: 2.9 million

STARZPLAY Arabia launched as the first Starz-branded SVOD outside the U.S. Today, it has 2.9 million subscribers, with over five million monthly views in 19 countries across MENA and Pakistan, with U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait are its top markets. In 2022, E-Vision and ADQ acquired a majority equity stake of 57% in the company based on a valuation of $420 million. In 2023, STARZPLAY signed a multi-year partnership with WATCH IT to showcase Arab talent on its platform. It offers a wide range of content, including Hollywood movies, TV shows, documentaries, original content, and live sports coverage of the Italian League (Serie A), the UFC, and all major cricket series. The platform’s top-performing categories are Western, Turkish historical dramas, Anime, and Arabic series.

OSN+

Headquarters: U.A.E.

Launched: 2022

Active users: Over two million

Kuwait, and Egypt are its top markets. In March 2023, OSN announced the extension of its long-term exclusive partnership with HBO, making OSN the exclusive home for HBO programming across MENA.

Watch It

Headquarters: Egypt

Launched: 2019

Subscribers: NA

OSN+ is the subscription-based streaming service of the OSN Group. It offers exclusive English movies and series from major global studios, including HBO, NBC Universal, Paramount+, Endeavor Content, MGM, and Sony, as well as original Arabic content in 22 countries across MENA. The platform’s top-performing categories are fantasy drama, comedy, crime, Turkish series, and Western content. With over two million active monthly users and more than 10 million downloads for its app as of April 2023, the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia,

WATCH IT is a subscription VOD service that streams Arabic content including TV shows, movies, series, and originals of WATCH IT and Maspero. It was launched by one of Egypt’s largest media production companies, United Media Services (UMS) in 2019 to display classic Egyptian artworks, movies, and the Ramadan series. Its App downloads exceeded five million on Google Play as of April 2023. It has partnerships with many companies including Vodafone Egypt, STARZPLAY, and valU.

Global Streaming Players

By Subscribers

Company Subscribers as of December 2022

Netflix 230.75 million

Disney+ 161.8 million

Warner Bros

Discovery 96.1 million

Note: Amazon Prime Video didn’t disclose its subscribers’ numbers