Hey streamers, Streaming in Short is back! 👋
A small change: from now on, this edition will land in your inbox every Monday. Five minutes to catch up on the streaming news and ideas that caught my attention in MENA and around the world.
Enjoy the read!
⚽ SPORTS: Smashi Sports has won Best Innovation in Sports at the Tech Innovation Awards 2026. Its own AI system creates highlights and thumbnails, then publishes them on Smart TV apps. The award was announced on September 18. More in The Lab’s Pick.
📱 MICRODRAMAS: YouTube is rolling out Shorts Series. Creators can group their short videos into seasons and episodes, making them easier to follow on mobile, web and TV. More in my Analysis section.
🇯🇵 STRATEGY: U-NEXT will start adding Universal+ in Japan from October, following an agreement announced in August. Its mix of Japanese content and international partnerships made me think about MBC Shahid in MENA. More in my Analysis section.
🤖 AI: BytePlus has introduced Dramagic, an AI production tool currently in beta. It helps teams move from a script to storyboards and video previews. As Wenwen Han pointed out, ByteDance now has tools for more parts of the short-drama business, from making content to reaching audiences and earning revenue. They are not all connected in one system yet.
📺 CREATORS: Samsung TV Plus is bringing more creator channels to TV. Happy Place, Golf Life and JOE Media are joining its UK offer through 208 Studios. Luke Nguyen’s World is also available in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.
🎬 CONTENT: The Stories, directed by Abu Bakr Shawky, is Egypt’s official submission for the 2027 Oscars’ International Feature Film category. Shofha says it is one of its first two cinema co-productions. An interesting step for a MENA streaming platform getting involved in making films for the big screen.
📣 ADVERTISING: ChatGPT Ads are now available to advertisers in the Middle East. The ads appear separately from ChatGPT’s answers and don’t influence them. I had some fun creating a mockup of how OSN+ could promote Lanterns when someone is looking for something to watch. See my example here 👀
Smashi uses AI to turn live matches into highlights
What happened?
👉 Smashi Sports won Best Innovation in Sports at the Tech Innovation Awards 2026 for an AI system built by its own team.
Key details:
The system picks out moments from live matches, creates highlights and thumbnails, then publishes them on Smart TV apps.
Augustus Media says this happens within three hours of the final whistle, without human intervention.
The company says it is expanding production across 40 leagues and nearly 4,000 matches in the 2026/27 season.
Why it matters?
🎯 The work doesn’t stop when the match ends. Fans still want highlights, and teams need time to create and publish them. Automating these tasks could help Smashi cover more matches with the resources it has. I’d be interested to see how much extra viewing these highlights bring after the live event.
YouTube brings short series to the big screen
👉 YouTube announced Shorts Series on September 23. Creators can organise their Shorts into seasons and episodes, add custom thumbnails and let viewers watch episodes in order. The feature is rolling out across web, mobile and TV.
📍 YouTube says microdramas passed 6.5 billion views across the platform in the first half of 2026. Watch time grew by more than 50% compared with a year earlier. On TV, microdrama views increased by more than 90%. We still don’t know how much of the total viewing comes from TV.
💡 What caught my attention is how YouTube is making short stories easier to watch as a series. For producers making microdramas, it could be worth testing how the same story performs on a phone and a TV. The first few seconds matter, but so does making viewers want to watch the next episode.
Why U-NEXT made me think of MBC Shahid
👉 Alexia Laroche-Joubert’s post about U-NEXT caught my attention. According to GEM Partners, the Japanese platform ranked second behind Netflix in 2025, based on estimated consumer spending on video subscriptions. It made me think about MBC Shahid in MENA.
📍 U-NEXT already offers HBO Max. Its agreement with NBCUniversal, announced in August, will add Universal+ from October in stages and create opportunities to bring Japanese content to other markets. In MENA, Shahid brings together Arabic originals, films, MBC channels and international content, with both free and paid viewing.
💡 For me, the connection is simple: knowing your audience helps you build a service they want to use. Local shows and familiar brands give people reasons to come back. Partnerships can add more choice and help reach new viewers. U-NEXT and Shahid work differently, but both show why local platforms deserve a closer look.
CABSAT 2026 is coming to Dubai next week, bringing together people working in broadcasting, streaming, production and content distribution. See you there?
📅 October 5–7 | 📍 Dubai Exhibition Centre, Expo City Dubai
Register for your free visitor pass.
🚣♂️ Widow’s Bay from Katie Dippold (Apple TV, 10 episodes): The mayor of a New England town resolves to turn it into the next tourist hot spot, despite local warnings that it’s cursed.
🏝️ In 2010, Shutter Island premiered in cinemas. Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Marshal investigating a patient’s disappearance from a psychiatric hospital on a remote island. As he searches for answers, he begins to question everything around him. A dark psychological thriller that keeps you guessing until the end.
