Starz Play claims more MENA market share than Netflix

Starz Play claims to have more market share in the Middle East and North Africa than rivals Netflix and Icflix.

Citing IHS Markit stats that coincide with Starz Play’s third anniversary, the subscription video-on-demand player said it accounts for 26% of the MENA OTT market, compared to Netflix’s 16% and Icflix’s 11%.

Starz Play also lead the region by revenues, accounting for 28% compared to Netflix’s 21% in what is a growing market overall.

The IHS Markit figures claim that online subscription video currently accounts for around 25% of the pay TV market in MENA but is set to increase to more than 50% by 2020.

“We launched Starz Play in April 2015, and since then we have watched it grow from a start-up with an inaugural team of just 15 to an industry-leader employing 100 extremely talented individuals,” said Maaz Sheikh, CEO and co-founder of Starz Play.

“Not only have we managed to secure investment funds of US$125 million during that short time, we have also strengthened our service exponentially with brand new features such as our download function, formed a wealth of strategic partnerships with major telecommunications providers and developed a world-class technology service across all leading platforms, today boasting more than 10,000 hours of content.”

IHS Markit principal research analyst, Constantinos Papavassilopoulos, said that Starz Play has successfully implemented a strategy focused on telco and pay TV operator partnerships, pricing that varies depending on region, and a content offering that has high relevance to different MENA regions.

“This policy has paid off as Starz Play subscriptions experienced a staggering growth of rate of 112% between 2015 and 2017,” said Papavassilopoulos.