Arabic and Africa SVOD Subs to Boom

There will be 28 million SVOD subscriptions across 13 Arabic countries by 2029, up from 15 million in 2023.

Netflix will still lead the market with six million subscribers, followed by Disney+ (3.6m) and Amazon Prime (3.5m) but local players will provide a strong challenge.

StarzPlay, Shahid VIP and OSN+ will account for 46% of the Arabic total subscriptions by 2029 – collectively adding 4.7 million subscribers from 2023.

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “As some of the US-based platforms lower their global rollout and local content commitments, the Arabic players will thrive.”

Meanwhile, African SVOD will also see plenty of growth in coming years. Africa will have 18 million paying SVOD subscriptions by 2029, up from 8 million at end-2023.

Despite this fast growth, SVOD penetration will remain low, with only 7.7% of TV households paying for at least one subscription by 2029.

Netflix will have 7.55 million subscribers by 2029, adding 3.4 million from end-2023. Second-placed Showmax will have 4.40 million paying subscribers by 2029, nearly 3 million more than 2023.

Murray said: “The SVOD sector in Anglophone Africa is evolving into a battle between Netflix and local player Showmax. Rich in local content and sports rights, Showmax now has access to NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures and HBO content.”