Connected TV market surging in MENA

The connected TV market is rapidly evolving in the Middle East and Africa with increasing sales of connected device fuelling demand for OTT, cloud and multiscreen services, according to Informa Telecoms & Media. 

The research firm said 6.5 million tablets were sold across the Middle East and Africa in 2012, with this figure forecast to increase almost fivefold to 32.1 million in 2016.

“The OTT-content and services landscape across MENA has traditionally been rather barren, but the situation is changing quickly with OTT start-ups starting to emerge, and the number of rival operator initiatives increasing,” said Michael Dean, research analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.

“Mobile broadband may currently be in the nascent stages across much of the region but it is increasingly becoming a greater growth area for rural internet users in many MENA markets. In addition, the Gulf Cooperation Council is scheduling to have LTE networks in place by end-2013, meaning there will be a further rise in mobile data usage. This will undoubtedly place more demand on increased content delivery,” he added.

The stats were released ahead of Informa’s TV Connect Middle East and North Africa conference and exhibition, which is due to take place in Dubai on November 5 to 6.