Most Mena markets are projected to grow online video revenues by 22 per cent–35 per cent annually until 2021, said professional services firm EY in its report on video consumption trends in the region

 As a result, digital’s share of the video revenue pie is projected to rise from 9.6 per cent in 2017 to 17.3 per cent by 2021, according to the report titled “Videonomics”.

Ahmed Reda, Mena Telecommunication, Media and Technology leader at EY said: “The region’s digital consumption growth is among the highest in the world. A large youth population, fast-improving mobile connectivity and a flood of new streaming platforms into the market will continue to drive this growth over the next few years.”

Subscription and transactional revenues comprise a large share of this digital segment at around 45 per cent. Segmented packages across price points and telco tie-ups for billing have helped in this region, but the trend also points to a new generation that cuts the cord and leapfrogs directly to digital subscriptions.

Nripendra Singh, director, Media and Entertainment, EY Africa, India and the Middle East said: “Digital video revenues and viewership are set to grow to by at least 22 per cent annually till 2021 in the Mena region. To ride this new wave, content creators will need to focus on multi language offerings, partnerships across the video value chain, analytics and customer centricity.”

Pay TV will continue to drive growth

Mena’s TV market has long been dominated by FTA (Free-To-Air) channels, and consequently, ad-funded business models. The region’s consumers have access to over 900 FTA channels and more than 90 per cent of viewership comes from FTA in markets such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

While the region has seen approximately 500 FTA channels added over the last decade, ad revenue growth has slowed. It appears the ad market is nearing saturation and recorded negative growth in 2016 and 2017. – TradeArabia News Service