Dubai Bling: the most successful TV show from MENA?
Dubai Bling: the most successful TV show from MENA?
The Streaming Lab - MENA #25
Hey streamers 👋
Welcome to the 25th edition of The Streaming Lab - MENA. If you’ve been around since the beginning or are just discovering this newsletter, thanks for reading me.
You can read all the previous editions here. Or subscribe to get the next newsletters every Saturday.
Agenda
This week, I’m looking at Dubai Bling: the reality TV show available on Netflix and produced locally in Middle East.
The success of Dubai Bling
The local productions that reached Netflix Top 10
The potential of reality TV in MENA
Enjoy the show!
The success of Dubai Bling
Dubai Bling follows the glamorous lives of a group of people in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. What’s most important for me is that the show has been produced locally.
Dubai Bling was released on Netflix on Thursday October 27th and the TV series instantly reached the Top 10 in most of the MENA countries, but also all over the world.
For now, the official data I can get are the number of hours watched during the 1st two weeks:
1st week (24/10/22-30/10/22): Global Top 3 TV (Non-English) with 13.71 million hours.
2nd week (31/10/22-6/11/22): Global Top 2 TV (Non-English) with 20.79 million hours.
Dubai Bling also reached Netflix Top 10 TV (Non-English) in 51 countries so far.
The local productions that reached Netflix Top 10
Let’s now have a look at other Films and TV series on Netflix, that were produced in the Middle East & North Africa.
AlRawabi School for Girls (TV series - Jordan)
1st week (9/08/22-15/08/22): Global Top 6 TV (Non-English) with 11.62 million hours.
2nd week (16/08/22-22/08/22): Global Top 2 TV (Non-English) with 18 million hours.
3rd week (23/08/22-29/08/22): Global Top 3 TV (Non-English) with 11.5 million hours.
AlRawabi School for Girls reached Netflix Top 10 TV (Non-English) in 43 countries for 1 to 7 weeks in August, September and November 2021.
Perfect Strangers (Films - Lebanon)
1st week (17/01/22-23/01/22): Global Top 5 Films (Non-English) with 2.67 million hours.
2nd week (24/02/22-30/02/22): Global Top 3 with 4.69 million hours.
3rd week (31/02/22-06/02/22): Global Top 6 with 1.37 million hours.
Perfect Strangers reached Netflix Top 10 TV (Non-English) in 21 countries for 1 to 8 weeks in January and February 2022.
Finding Ola (TV series - Egypt)
Finding Ola reached Netflix Top 10 TV (Non-English) in 11 countries for 1 to 9 weeks in February, March and April 2022.
Newton’s Cradle (TV series - Egypt)
Newton’s Cradle reached Netflix Top 10 TV (Non-English) in 10 countries for 3 to 12 weeks in December 2021 and January 2022.
The Cage (TV series - Kuwait)
The Cage season 1 reached Netflix Top 10 TV (Non-English) in 7 countries for 1 to 5 weeks in October 2022.
Till Death (TV series - Lebanon)
The season one of Till Death reached Netflix Top 10 TV (Non-English) in 6 countries for 2 to 18 weeks in 2021 and 2022.
2020 (TV series - Lebanon)
2020 reached Netflix Top 10 TV (Non-English) in 4 countries for 2 to 8 weeks in June and July 2022.
Route 10 (Films - Saudi Arabia - United Arab Emriates)
Route 10 reached Netflix Top 10 Films (Non-English) in 4 countries for 1 week in November 2022.
Masameer (TV series - Saudi Arabia)
Masameer reached Netflix Top 10 TV (Non-English) in Saudi Arabia for 4 weeks and in Kuwait for 2 weeks in July 2021.
Takki (TV series - Saudi Arabia)
Takki season 2 and 3 reached Netflix Top 10 TV (Non-English) in Saudi Arabia for 1 and 3 weeks respectively in November 2021.
Jinn (TV series - Jordan)
Jinn reached Netflix Top 10 TV (Non-English) in Jordan only for 1 week in August 2021.
Caramel (Film - Jordan)
Caramel reached Netflix Top 10 Films (Non-English) in Jordan for only 1 week in October 2021.
If you know another local production that reached Netflix Top 10 in one or several MENA countries, feel free to mention it in the comments.
It looks like only 3 local films & TV series reached Netflix Global Top 10 for the past full year:
Dubai Bling
AlRawabi School for Girls
Perfect Strangers
Dubai Bling is not the first Non-English TV Series from MENA to reach Netflix Top 2. The new show will have to share the crown with the Jordanian Drama AlRawabi School for Girls.
However, Dubai Bling is now the most watched Non-English TV show on Netflix that was produced in the region. At least for the first two weeks after release. And you can trust me, I’ll keep tracking this one ;)
The potential of reality TV from MENA
Here are some examples of reality TV shows that are available on OSN+, StarzPlay and Shahid:
OSN+
Botched
Listing Impossible
Raising a F**king Star
The Real Housewives of Dubai
Relatively Famous Ranch Rules
Starzplay
Building Alaska
90 Days Fiancé UK
Say Yes to The Dress
Below Deck Mediterranean
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Shahid
Ala Fain
Good Bones
Zeros to Heroes
90 Days to Wed
Running Wild with Bear Grills
And there are so many opportunities where local & international streamers could localize successful TV shows or build original formats. Here are some ideas:
Selling Jumeirah: Follow a group of real estate agents in Dubai.
Riyadh Bling: The glamorous lives of a group in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Designing Dubai: Who is behind the design of the most luxurious villas in Dubai?
Race to Dakar: Follow the preparation and the race of a local team for the Dakar Rally-Raid in Saudi Arabia.
Dunes Road Truckers: Show the lives of drivers who operate trucks on challenging routes, crossing deserts in the Middle East.
That’s all for today, a data review of Dubai Bling and the local productions that reached Netflix Top 10 in MENA and internationally.
See you online next week. Until then, enjoy the new reel from Different Productions, the company behind Dubai Bling:
And have a look at their Astronauts series in which 12 men and women from all over the Middle East go through the most extreme and demanding selection process, reserved for real-life astronauts candidates. Available now on Awaan!
Whenever you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you with:
If you want to learn more about streaming in MENA, I’d recommend starting with my market report:
→ The Streaming Ecosystem in MENA: Learn everything about the local streaming services in the region. Get full access here.
Work with me 1:1 to diversify your streaming revenues in MENA (FAST channels business, CTV Advertising, Content distribution, Content acquisition, Market analysis, Business representation, etc.)