Makkah

IT seems that in the next stage we will be witnessing a big visual war between the MBC group and Netflix. The two large media groups with high numbers of viewers in the region will both launch new strategies in order to gain the attention of the wider Arab audience.

Recently, MBC decided to enter the digital broadcasting market by making contents taking into account the interests of Arab audiences and meeting their expectations.

This rivalry will definitely heat up and will put MBC to a big and difficult test. The results will be shown directly on the media scene, whether positive or negative.

Coming face to face with a big company such as Netflix, which is dominating the broadcasting market in the area, MBC will have a tough time ahead.

However, this rivalry will definitely have a positive impact on content presented to the Arab audience.

Major media companies are working within their strategies to develop and enrich the content so they can meet the needs of a wide range of viewers by investing in online broadcasting services.

A report in the Financial Times newspaper said the largest media company in the Middle East was working on expanding their broadcasting services in an attempt to compete with Netflix in the Arab world. MBC hired Johannes Larcher, the former CEO of Hulu, to be its managing director. He will manage expanding of the digital services by investing in the Shahid platform and developing its Arabic content. The group is currently working on producing new shows and movies to enrich the experiences of its viewers. Some of these include historical shows about notable Arab leaders and old school tales. It is also expected that the group will buy TV shows from all over the world.

The wide reach of the group in the field of Arab entertainment is what encouraged it to invest in the digital broadcasting market, which it hopes to contribute by catching up with Netflix’s services, instead of letting it to dominate the filed.

It is important for MBC to invest its great potentials in new and emerging markets. It must make a strong entry into digital broadcasting as a new Saudi media strategy that aims to show to the world the real image of the Kingdom by standing up to the anti-Saudi campaigns. It is especially important because MBC channels have an estimated 140 million viewers around the world, a number that is not insignificant if it was used and invested in a proper way.

The effect of media in general and satellite channels is no longer limited to entertainment and enlightenment. It has become a soft weapon that can be used by countries to serve their purposes.