Istikana envisions more Web TV content

One of the region's fledgling Web television services plans to double the content it offers this year amid strong demand for online video in the Arab world.

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Istikana.com, which was launched in March, says it has 4,000 hours of Arabic-language programming either online or ready for use, and aims to double that this year.

Samer Abdin, a co-founder of Istikana, said the advertising-driven service was lining up content deals to boost the number of hours of programming it offers.

"In the bank, we have 4,000 [hours], and we aim to get that at least again this year," Mr Abdin said.

Istikana has deals with about 25 content suppliers, including Jordan's Arab Telemedia Group.

Mr Abdin said the website was in talks to increase that number.

"We're always looking to expand," he said. "Content is a large part of winning in this game. We're looking this year to sign a couple more strategic deals."

Online video is popular in the Middle East. Users in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait have the highest per-capita YouTube viewing rate in the world, a senior executive at Google, which acquired YouTube for US$1.65 billion (Dh6.06bn) in 2006, said last year.

Several online video services have emerged in the Arab world, with operations similar those of Hulu and Netflix in the US.

These include Shahid.net - which is run by MBC, the largest broadcaster in the Arab world - and sites such as Shofha.com and Arabia.tv.

Such services allow users to watch videos on demand, with some deriving their income from advertising.

Istikana claims to have 2,200 hours of TV programming online, with 1,800 hours more of online video ready to launch.

Mr Abdin said the site was close to announcing a deal with a major regional supplier of content.

"We will probably have a total of somewhere around 8,000 hours," he said. "The market is developing quite quickly. We've got around 700,000 unique viewers a month that come to our site."

Istikana specialises in library TV content and derives its revenue from in-video advertising.

"The type of advertising that we do is relatively new in the region," Mr Abdin said. "2011 was the year when most agencies and advertisers were introduced to this concept. I think that in 2012 we'll see a lot of growth in the in-video space."

Mr Abdin said Istikana was also considering launching a "freemium" business model, in which users pay for certain services.

bflanagan@thenational.ae

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