OTT video market in the AME region has strong regional players in the market such as icflix, Shahid.net, beIN, STARZ Play, OSN, and iROKOtv, which now face relatively new international players with Netflix and Amazon having recently entered the market. Several key market trends have emerged in the AME region. OTT video players are increasingly tailoring their content according to regional demand, cultural tastes, and offering their content in several languages to cater to local viewers. The players are offering content in several genres, including Arabic, Hollywood, Bollywood, and Nollywood content.

Subscription video on demand (SVoD) and advertising-funded video on demand (AVoD) are the most prominent business models in the region and several OTT video providers have opted for hybrid models which include any combination of transactional video on demand (TVoD), AVoD, and SVoD. Additionally, there are a limited number of pure TVoD offerings in AME in more affluent countries in the region.

Key differentiating attributes of OTT video providers commonly relate to exclusive rights to content, utilizing technology to enhance viewing experience, providing content in a wide range of languages, specialization of content to cater for a specific audience type, and partnerships with device vendor distributers.

The most common form of content creation by OTT video providers is labelled content (non-user generated video content) which is offered on demand. User generated content and content which has live production, is less frequently offered.

OTT video providers have often opted to partner with telecom operators to avoid billing problems related to low bank account and credit card penetration. This could help boost OTT subscriber numbers and increases an OTT provider’s presence in a country.