MENA SVOD revenues to triple

MENA SVOD revenues will reach $2.13 billion by 2024; or $1.51 billion more than the 2018 total. SVOD revenues will more than triple between 2018 and 2024, according to the latest edition of the Middle East and North Africa OTT TV and Video Forecasts report.

Market leader Turkey will add $373 million to triple its SVOD revenue total to $556 million by 2024. Saudi Arabia will nearly quadruple its SVOD revenues to reach $402 million in 2024 to take second place. Israel will be just behind – with $398 million revenues by 2024.

Source: Digital TV Research

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “We forecast 26.51 million SVOD subscriptions [an SVOD subscriber can have more than one subscription] by 2024, up from 11.31 million recorded by end-2018. Turkey will remain the leader with 11.52 million subs by 2024.”

Murray continued: “We forecast 11.87 million SVOD subscriptions in the 13 Arab-speaking countries covered in this report by 2024 – nearly triple from the 4.13 million recorded at end-2018.”

In the 13 Arabic countries, the top eight platforms (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Icflix, Starz Play, Iflix, Wavo, beIN Connect and Shahid Plus) will retain 95% of SVOD subscribers.

Netflix will remain the largest MENA SVOD platform by 2024, with 7.71 million paying subscribers; up from 3.11 million in 2018. Netflix will have 4.22 million subscribers in the Arabic-speaking countries by 2024.

Starz Play will continue to take second place in the Arabic countries. Its subs base will reach 2.98 million by 2024; up from 1.09 million in 2018. Third-placed Shahid Plus will be some way behind with 1.81 million paying subscribers by 2024, although this is six times the 2018 figure.

As a point of comparison, Turkey’s Tivibu will have 3.14 million paying subscribers by 2024, with compatriot Turkcell adding a further 4.75 million. Netflix will continue to take third place in Turkey.