(Dubai, 16 March 2019) Anghami, the leading on demand music platform in the MENA region, introduced Podcasts, a new rising audio format that presents talks about various topics of interest such as Sports, tech, society, lifestyle, wellness, and music to name a few. In collaboration with the Podcast community, over 250 shows have been introduced from over 40 regional podcast creators, in addition to global podcasters and DJ Shows.
For the first time in MENA, Anghami is announcing audio content partnerships with leading publishers in the region. ITP’s Time Out, Arabian Business, Harpars Bazzar in addition to Eurosports Arabia, Jamalouki, Gulf News, Fatafeat, Sports360, and Communicate ME will be amongst the first to add Podcasts on Anghami. Adding to this is a lineup of global podcasters featuring Billboard, Gary Vaynerchuck, Dave Ramsey, Joe Rogan, Trevor Noah, Snoop Dogg and more.
With Anghami’s availability across mobile, desktop and smart devices, the platform offers podcasters accessibility and reach at scale to nearly 70 million registered users. While continuing to support local talent, Anghami also brings select podcasters the opportunity to use a dedicated space for recording and access to editing tools.
On the topic of Podcasts, Rami Zeidan at Anghami, says: “At Anghami we are focused at presenting our users with a variety of entertaining content. A highly enriching audio experience with music at it is core. With a user centric approach, we will present a variety of audio formats to keep tailoring to personal tastes and interests, focusing on MENA users, and MENA creators.”
He adds: “The local Podcasting community is a creative one, they present relevant content to the MENA consumer in Arabic and English languages. Some Podcasts have been running for years such as Mstdfr, Kerning Cultures, Amaeya FM, Lovin Dubai, with many gaining momentum like Finyal Media, Basel Meets, Rana Nawas and many many more. In fact, we aim to start some music podcasts of our own. Our journey kicked off at the Middle East Podcast Forum last year, and together, I am confident that we will scale Podcasting in MENA.”
Ammar Al-Sabban, Co-Founder/Chief Creative Officer at MSTDFR Podcast Network says “I think Anghami’s venture into the podcast scene just shows the versatility and foresight the company has, giving the people not just what they want but even what they need. For us as the mstdfr podcast network, when we started in 2015 there was very little support from companies in the Middle East and no local platform gave us an opportunity, so when Anghami reached out and gave us a new playground to explore; we jumped at the opportunity.”
Audio is a companion, it allows users to consume content that they love on the go. Audio is the new video, it is easier to produce and more scalable. Anghami has scaled the Middle East from a market flooded with piracy to a community of over 2 million artists, 1 Billion Monthly Streams, and 45 annual active listeners playing music with a tap of a button. With 6 years of personalization experience, Anghami is committed on scaling Podcasts in MENA by attracting the relevant audience, supporting more content creation, and fueling Podcasting as an industry and not just a feature.