🎬 YouTube Creators Hit the Big Screen in MENA

Regional content creators take their stories from screens to theaters | Streaming in Short - W26

Jun 27, 2025

This week, we cover Spotify asking for more videos, YouTube creators showing their movies in MENA, and Brad Pitt starring in a new Formula 1 racing film.

📹 Spotify wants your videos, not just podcasts

👉 Spotify is making a big move into video, not just music and podcasts. The company is offering cash and support to top creators, hoping to attract their videos away from YouTube.

📍 Now, anyone making videos, not just podcasters, can join in. Popular YouTubers like Nick DiGiovanni and JackSepticEye are already posting their videos on Spotify and finding success.

💡 Video watching on Spotify is growing fast, with more than 300 million people tuning in and views up 44% from last year. Spotify wants to keep users watching videos on its app and become a real competitor to YouTube.

🎬 YouTube creators hit the big screen in MENA

👉 YouTube just held its first cinema event in MENA, with 5 well-known creators premiere their own short films. These movies explored everything from technology in Japan to family stories in Morocco and daily life in Indonesia.

📍 The event included films by Omar Farooq, Anas Bukhash, Taha Essou, Haifa Beseisso, and Sherif Nabil, showing that YouTube creators are now making real films, not just online videos.

💡 More MENA YouTubers are now building teams, starting studios, and moving into movies and entertainment. The gap between YouTube and cinema is getting smaller every day.

🏎️ Brad Pitt’s Formula 1 movie: big budgets, real racing

What happened?

👉 Hollywood joined forces with Formula 1, Apple, and Mercedes to create a new racing movie starring Brad Pitt. They filmed at real F1 races using custom Mercedes cars and advanced cameras. The budget was about $200 million, and the project included real F1 teams, drivers, and sponsors.

Key details:

Brad Pitt and the cast actually drove the race cars built by Mercedes.
Filming took place during real Grand Prix weekends, right alongside the pros.
The movie team brought in over $40 million from real sponsorship deals.
All 20 F1 drivers will appear in the film.
The movie will premiere in theaters first, then be available on Apple TV+.

Why it matters?

🎯 This is one of the most expensive sports movies ever made. By mixing real racing action with Hollywood storytelling, the film aims to get a whole new audience excited about Formula 1.

⚖️ U.S. judge gives green light to AI training

A U.S. court just said Anthropic can use millions of books to train its AI, even without permission from authors. The judge compared it to learning from reading, calling it “transformative.”

It’s a big win for AI companies, but not great news for studios like Disney and Universal, who worry the same idea could let AI learn from movies as well.

🎬 Denis Villeneuve takes on James Bond at Amazon

Denis Villeneuve, the director behind “Dune” and “Blade Runner 2049”, is set to direct the next James Bond film for Amazon MGM Studios. Tanya Lapointe joins as executive producer.

Villeneuve, a longtime Bond fan, says he wants to honor the franchise’s tradition while opening the door for new adventures. Producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman are also on board for this new 007 chapter.

🌍 TF1+ goes live in Africa

TF1 Group is launching its free streaming service, TF1+, in 22 French-speaking African countries on June 30. The move is part of TF1’s plan to grow beyond France and bring French entertainment and news to more viewers.

This comes alongside a big Netflix partnership, making TF1’s shows and channels even more widely available.

🎬 Shahid brings K-dramas to MENA

Shahid has teamed up with Korea’s CJ ENM to add 20 hit Korean dramas to its platform. This is CJ ENM’s first major entry into the MENA streaming market.

Fans in MENA can now watch popular K-dramas like “What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim,” “Lovely Runner” and “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God”.

🤝 Al-Manasa and Yango Play team up on content

Iraqi platform Al-Manasa has signed a deal with Yango Play to exchange original series. Al-Manasa users will get access to three Yango Originals, while Yango Play will show two Al-Manasa series to viewers outside Iraq.

This partnership helps both platforms offer more variety and reach new audiences, especially in Iraq and across MENA.

🌏 APOS: Banijay Asia steps up in Southeast Asia

At the APOS conference, Banijay Asia CEO Deepak Dhar shared that the company has locked in new deals for scripted and unscripted shows in Indonesia.

They’re also updating their reality show, this time, both an Indian and an Indonesian contestant will get a shot at going to space with Blue Origin. After big wins in India, Banijay is looking to grow even more across the region.

🎤 SME Live: Netflix opens Streaming Made Easy event

Streaming Made Easy

Live is set for September 11, 2025, in Amsterdam, with Netflix’s Carmen Garcia and Ludovic Simoens leading the first talk: “When Product meets Marketing.”

It’s an invite-only event, packed with real insights and networking for anyone in streaming, tech, or broadcasting. More speakers will be revealed soon!

🎲 Squid Game: Season 3, from Hwang Dong-hyuk (Netflix, 6 episodes): Gi-hun is devastated by the loss of his best friend and sinks into deep despair after discovering that the Game Master had hidden his true identity to secretly infiltrate the game.

🏎️ F1 The Movie, from Joseph Kosinski and Ehren Kruger (Prime Video, 8 episodes): Racing legend Sonny Hayes is coaxed out of retirement to lead a struggling Formula 1 team, and mentor a young hotshot driver, while chasing one more chance at glory.

🏛️ 17 years ago, on July 21, 2007, Mad Men premiered on AMC. Created by Matthew Weiner, this stylish drama took viewers inside a 1960s New York ad agency. Known for its attention to detail, complex characters, and exploration of American culture, Mad Men set a new bar for period drama and TV storytelling.