According to an article on Arab News recently, Netflix, the American based TV streaming service, has plans to produce its first show in the Arabic language.
The show, called ‘Jinn’, will be a six episode drama series directed by award winning Lebanese Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya, well-known for his 2015 film ‘Very Big Shot’.
‘Jinn’ is based around a group of Arab teenagers whose lives are disturbed by supernatural forces when Jinn appears to them in the ancient city of Petra.
‘Adel Karam’, another Netflix production, is an Arabic stand-up comedy which was launched on March 1st. In this show Adel, the renowned Lebanese comedian, discusses everything from social issues to relationships with his distinctly Arab blend of sarcastic, savvy humour.
Netflix have moved into producing Arabic shows in a bid to target a rising Middle Eastern audience. They are set to spend a large portion of their $7-8 billion budget targeting new audiences, with over 700 titles expected globally in 2018.
This innovative move by Netflix comes after the success of the 2013 Arabic language show ‘Omar’, (Netflix most popular Arabic language show), which attained a prize at the Cannes Film Festival in the same year.
In 2016 Netflix subscribers in the MENA region were around 137,000, but researcher for the US based company suggest that by the end of 2021 these numbers will reach 1.29 million.
The Middle East has a huge potential for growth of Netflix subscribers, and Arabic language content will encourage and sustain this expansion.
Erik Barmack, Netflix VP of international original series, stated that more details about ‘Jinn’ will be available later this year, with the series set to air to Netflix subscribers in 2019.
