du, from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), has signed a distribution agreement with Prime Video to offer customers greater choice in video content.
The announcement, made during GITEX Technology Week 2018, follows a partnership with streaming rival Netflix earlier this month.
It also comes as the online subscription video market (OTT) in the Middle East and North Africa region is expected to increase over 50 percent by 2020.
According to a study by global research firm IHS Markit earlier this year, regional platform StarzPlay holds 26 percent of the OTT market share compared to Netflix’s 16 percent share and ICIFLIX’s 11 percent.
Now, Amazon Prime, a paid subscription service offered by Amazon that has more than 100 million subscribers worldwide, is aiming to make its mark in the region.
Fahad Al Hassawi, deputy CEO, EITC – Telco Services, said: “Our relationship with Prime Video enables us to further strengthen our offering, not just for TV viewers, but also for on-the-go customers whose entertainment needs span multiple screens.
“du is excited for the launch of its offer of Prime Video as part of a value-added consumer strategy which entails global partnerships to meet rising demand for high-quality content.”
Rival Netflix is said to have 125 million subscribers in 190 countries.
The IHS Markit research showed the CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of online video subscriptions between 2013 and 2022 is predicted to be 64.2 percent in comparison to a much lower rate of 6.1 percent for the pay TV market. During this time, OTT subscriptions are expected to rise above 5 million.
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