By KARIM JAAFAR / AFP
With 98 million users in the Middle East and North Africa, Anghami is often compared to the Swedish music streaming giant in the region. And like Spotify, it is looking to diversify its business to consolidate its position as leader in a booming local market.
With 98 million users in the Middle East and North Africa, Anghami is often compared to the Swedish music streaming giant in the region. And like Spotify, it is looking to diversify its business to consolidate its position as leader in a booming local market.
Anghami (which means "my tunes" in Arabic) was launched by Eddy Maroun and Elie Habib in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2012. At the time, the two men had the idea of surfing on the keen taste for music among people in the Middle East and North Africa. A decade later, they're at the helm of a booming business. Anghami has established itself as the most popular music streaming service among Arabic-speaking audiences, with nearly 20 million active users. Of these, about 1.3 million are paying subscribers. An impressive figure in a region where paying for music is not part of the public mindset.
The streaming service has succeeded in building a loyal audience by partnering with some 50 mobile operators in 20 countries in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. It has recently concluded these kinds of commercial deals with Hallo in Denmark and Virgin Mobile in Kuwait. Kuwaiti subscribers to Virgin Mobile now get free access to Anghami Plus, the paid segment of the streaming platform, for life. Meanwhile, Danish customers can discover Anghami's catalog for free through Hallo's "Fri Tale 200GB" cell phone plan.
These partnerships allow Anghami to reach out to some of the 20 million foreign nationals who make up the Arab diaspora. "Music is a part of Arab culture. And Arabs, young and old, wherever they are, cherish the opportunity to listen to their favorite songs," said Choucri Khairallah, vice president of business development at Anghami, in a statement
More focus on Arabic music
In addition to these partnerships with telecoms companies, the streaming service pays particular attention to its catalog. It claims to have 73 million songs, of which only 1% are in Arabic. However, these titles represent 60% of the traffic on the platform, according to CNN. "We realize we need to grow that 1%," Elie Habib told the American media outlet.
To do so, Anghami is increasingly approaching popular artists in the Middle East and North Africa, such as Lebanese pop star Nancy Ajram and Egyptian singer-songwriter Amr Diab. The latter signed an exclusive contract with the company in February, allowing his fans to enjoy exclusive content on the application.
To expand its Arabic music repertoire, Anghami has also partnered with Sony Music Entertainment Middle East to launch "Vibe Music Arabia." This new label is designed to support independent Arab artists from the Middle East and North Africa, and encourage them to create music. "We see so many talented artists and songs emerge daily from this region and believe there is a real opportunity for a boutique label to foster these fast-growing music communities and help develop their craft," Eddy Maroun said in a statement when "Vibe Music Arabia" launched.
$31.7 million revenue
Arabic audio content is another lever for customer retention at Anghami. The company produces original podcasts in Arabic, whereas its competitors' libraries contain very few. It has also teamed up with the start-up Wajeez to offer its users short summaries of audio books in Arabic.
These initiatives appear to be paying off: subscription revenue grew 27% in the third quarter of 2022, while Anghami's revenue climbed 29% year over year. It stands at $31.7 million, according to the company's latest financial results.
And Anghami does not intend to stop there, especially now that it is listed on the Nasdaq stock market in the US. Indeed, in February 2021, the music streaming platform became the first Arab technology company to be listed on the New York-based stock exchange. A historic event that hasn't failed to arouse interest. In fact, there have been many offers to buy the company, including one worth $400 million from the Orbit Showtime Network, according to Bloomberg.
But given their dominant position in the Middle East and North Africa, Eddy Maroun and Elie Habib want to continue growing Anghami. "When we started Anghami […] we never thought about IPOs, we never thought about millions of users using us every day," Elie Habib told CNN. "IPO is never the end game -- the end game is making something whereby you are proud."
