Mumbai: In a forecast report from Digital TV Research on Monday, it is noted that there will be 21.52 million paying SVOD subscriptions [TV episodes and movies only], up from 9.49 million in 2021, across 13 Arabic countries by 2027 in the next five years.

The largest player in the region will continue to be Netflix, which will see its Arabic base increase from 3.55 million to 5.45 million by 2027.  Despite its fast growth, Disney+ will remain behind Shahid VIP (second place), increasing from 2.16 million to 3.77 million, while Starzplay will be in third with 3.47 million. 

With its launch in the region earlier this year, Disney+ is set to have an explosively growing launch period to become the fourth largest player with 3.39 million, with Amazon seeing similar massive growth from 715,000 in 2021 to 2.35 million in 2027.

After Disney+ withdrew its content and launched as a standalone platform, OSN lost some traction. However, OSN will retain exclusive rights to HBO Max and Paramount+ content. By 2027, OSN will have 1.60 million paid SVOD subscribers.

Digital TV Research principal analyst Simon Murray commented, "Netflix will continue to lead the market, although Disney+ has provided a strong challenge since June. We assume that Netflix and Disney+ will add hybrid ad-supported tiers in a pan-Arabic platform from 2024."