Over-The-Top (OTT) media and Video-On-Demand (VOD) are fast becoming a mainstay of the media and entertainment industry’s present and future. COVID-19, along with other more fundamental factors like increased high speed internet, further fueled an insatiable demand for OTT services world-wide. Globally, SVOD subscriptions are expected to double by 2025 to 1.17 billion, generating revenues of $100 billion.
For OTT markets across MENA, which is growing as a center of attraction for all that is digital, this trend is rapidly gaining traction, driven by a combination of factors. With its youthful demographic makeup (over 28% of Middle East’s population aged between 15 and 29), MENA poses as a welcoming arena for digital entertainment innovation and expansion, with a VOD market projected to grow three-fold to over 29.6 million SVOD subscriptions and a turnover of $2.97 billion by 2025.
In Saudi Arabia’s OTT market – projected to add $563 million in SVOD revenues over the next five years- bright prospects are powered by Saudi Vision 2030’s goals for an all-inclusive digital transformation leading to a better quality of life and a more prosperous economy. The Kingdom is already ahead of its peers on the hi-tech front, its connectivity infrastructure supports one of the region’s highest internet penetration rates (95% in 2019), and its 5G network, undisputably the region’s largest, supports the full-blown AI experience of AR & VR.
This fast-tracked route towards digital entertainment has required content distributors and creators to be more agile, delivering more customized content to suit niche markets, with greater interactivity, and underscored by original productions. Being a leading provider of innovative digital entertainment solutions across the Kingdom and the wider MENA markets, Intigral avidly pursues these evolving trends, and its strategy is based on delivering an enhanced digital entertainment viewing experience that meets their ever changing requirements of the consumer.
Jawwy TV, one entertainment spot
Jawwy TV, Intigral’s flagship virtual Multi-Channel Video Programming Distributor (vMVPD) platform offers its subscribers a plethora of viewing opportunities, ranging from offering 240+ live free and encrypted premium TV channels through to an on-demand SVOD catalogue comprising over 23,000 Arabic and Western movies and series. Besides curating content from global and regional sources, the platform composes original productions and delivers the aggregated content across one multi-featured cloud-based platform.
Jawwy TV capitalizes on its impressive lineup of partnerships with 30 global and regional networks, through which it offers a broad selection of entertainment options accessible in easy-to-use account. Additionally, its Premium Entertainment Pack features select entertainment bouquets from providers like OSN, ensuring the availability of diverse packages catering to the whole family and the expansion of its live and on-demand library with fresh monthly releases.
Between January and September, Jawwy TV logged a 65% percent increase in new subscribers with a 35% surge in streamed hours. Conveniently available through an App downloadable to portable devices or via a set-top box viewable on smart TVs, the platform allows multiple-device viewing and recording options amongst an array of other features.
Beyond entertainment
In addition to advocating high-quality entertainment, Intigral contributes to the ongoing development of the national initiatives through deeper social involvement across all walks of life including e-learning, healthcare, and connecting people.
In a step that complemented its ambition to lead MENA’s digital entertainment, Intigral launched ‘Local Creators’ in the Kingdom and the region looking for young talented individuals in entertainment production. This emphasized Intigral’s commitment to continue to invest in expanding its portfolio of original titles, not only to enrich the regional digital entertainment scene, but also to foster an innovative ecosystem that embraces up and coming talents and advances the quality of its offerings.
As digitalized entertainment continues to redefine the essence of interactive TV viewing, the rules of engagement for content creators and media distributors, who are now much closer to each consumer and thus more aware of the shifting paradigms of viewers’ preferences, has changed too. Intigral will continue to transform the way digital entertainment is consumed across MENA, while also harnessing all available resources to explore and unlock the vast potential of up and coming entertainment professionals within the MENA region to continue to revolutionize the way entertainment is delivered and offer subscribers an unparalleled viewing experience.
