Investment in local Arabic content is crucial for OTT media in MENA. StarzPlay Arabia’s new series uses GCC talent to compete with Netflix original content. This aims to appeal to Millennials and Gen-Z consumers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

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Summary

Investment in local Arabic content is crucial for OTT media in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). StarzPlay Arabia’s new series uses Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) talent to compete with Netflix original content, such as Dubai Bling. The aim is to appeal to Millennials and Gen-Z consumers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

StarzPlay Arabia is launching new original content

StarzPlay Arabia has recently announced that its first-ever Arabic-language original series, Kaboos (translated as Nightmare), will begin streaming on February 9, 2023. Kaboos is a horror anthology series drawing on several traditional folktales from the Arabic-speaking world. The series’ production underlines a few key trends in over-the-top (OTT) content in the Arabic-speaking world and provides a guide for how StarzPlay is seeking to compete in an increasingly crowded MENA OTT market. Producing original content is an important step for pay-TV providers seeking to gain market share, especially as it often plays a key role in platform advertising, but it comes with financial risks and substantial capital costs. That makes the decision about what content to invest in both commercially significant and highly instructive about the company’s overall direction.

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