While Netflix 's global expansion, which also brought the online streaming service to the Middle East, has garnered significant hype; many have quickly realized that it's not exactly the streaming solution everyone hoped for. With the number of titles varying significantly from country to country – due to licensing agreements – and with the constant struggle of finding a quality Internet connection, many would-be users are eyeing the monthly subscription with skepticism.
Fortunately, Netflix isn't the only streaming service operating within the region. Launching last April, Dubai-based startup Playco Entertainment partnered with U.S.-based STARZ satellite channel to offer an online streaming service, STARZ Play Arabia, that "delivers blockbuster Hollywood movies and exclusive TV series," while taking into account regional issues such as subpar Internet connections.
StepFeed talked with Maaz Sheikh, president of STARZ Play Arabia, to understand how his startup addresses the regional problems that other services seem to have overlooked.
"We think that the entire MENA region has been underserved, under penetrated, because of lack of affordable pay TV or affordable television options in the region," Sheikh said.
Explaining how his company's service allows a better streaming experience despite subpar connections, Sheikh told StepFeed, "We use multiple content distribution networks and we route the customer's traffic on the best performing path, the best performing CDN at any given point in time."
"To give you an example, our average Saudi customer connects with us for an average of about 31 minutes every single day. During this 31 minutes ... while they are streaming our content, without any interruption and delay or buffering to them, in the background we will switch the traffic across multiple CDNs on average seven times ... So this makes the service very, very smooth for the end user."
Not only does the service tackle the issue of poor connections, it also allows users to seamlessly transition between devices while watching. At the same time, the service takes into account the variations in bandwidth from one device to another. "Without the customer knowing, we adjust the quality and image based on the bandwidth of the device available to the customer in real time," Sheikh said.
While seamless streaming is great, it doesn't really matter unless there is quality content to stream. This is another area where STARZ Play seems to have it in the bag. While Netflix suffers from serious discrepancies in titles available from country to country – Morocco has a measly 157 titles compared to Iraq's 5,750 – STARZ Play operates under a different model entirely, allowing it to host more than 4,000 titles across the entire region, consistent from country to country.
"We secured content rights with the major hollywood studios before Netflix entered the market. So at that time, the studios did not have any alternative outside of OSN and MBC. So, what we were able to do ... we have movie rights in what the industry calls 'pay movies.'" Sheikh said. "So, the movie gets launched in a theater and then it goes into pay providers like OSN and STARZ Play. Then the movie moves into the 'free to air' window and then it goes into a 'library.'"
Holding the distribution rights in the "pay movies" category guarantees that STARZ Play will always have the latest films and series, months and months before Netflix or similar services would be able to offer them. Sheikh explained that at any given time, STARZ Play will have 80 to 90 of the latest blockbusters that have just finished their run in cinemas.
And while traditional television channels in the region may eventually get the rights to show many of these films, STARZ Play isn't bound by the same standards of censorship that many regional channels adhere to. While negative references to religion, regional political leaders and ruling families are censored, Sheikh assured us that as much as 99 percent of the site's content remains uncensored.
Saudi Arabia is STARZ Play's largest Middle Eastern market, followed by the United Arab Emirates. Sheikh said that the service's North African traffic has been growing substantially as well. With 400,000 to 500,000 daily visitors on average, with weekends peaking at 900,000 to 1 million, STARZ Play has quickly taken a sizable portion of the regional online streaming market.
Available in 17 regional countries, STARZ Play offers a free month trial to new subscribers, with a charge of just $7.99 per month after that. It also offers various payment methods to address regional issues that may hinder subscribers from using credit cards.