Viewers in the Kingdom account for 30% of the service’s sports audience, 45% of its entertainment audience, and 50% of those who watch StarzPlay Originals Number of people in the country watching Arabic content has doubled since February, after addition of Arabic Originals and content from Egyptian streaming service Watch It DUBAI: Football, StarzPlay Originals and Turkish programs are among the most-watched content on StarzPlay in Saudi Arabia, according to newly released statistics from the streaming service. Audiences in the Kingdom are clearly big sports fans, with Saudi viewers accounting for 30 percent of the StarzPlay Sports audience. In addition to football, Ultimate Fighting Championship and rugby are among the most popular sports, the viewing figures reveal. “The appeal of sports in Saudi (Arabia) has been truly remarkable for us and it’s fantastic that we can appeal to such a diverse range of sports enthusiasts with our wide array of sports programming, spanning football, rugby, cricket and more,” said Tony Saab, senior vice president of content and programming. The figures also reveal that viewers in Saudi Arabia make up 45 percent of StarzPlay’s audience for entertainment programming, with the streaming service’s Originals, Turkish and Arabic titles, and comedy boxsets racking up the most views. Arabic Originals such as the films “Harley,” “Big Lie” and “Wala Ghalta,” and TV series “Kaboos” and “The Chamber” are particularly popular among Saudis, who represent about half of the total audience for Originals content. The number of users in the Kingdom that watch Arabic content has doubled since February, following the launch of Arabic Original titles and the addition of content from Egyptian video-on-demand service Watch It, StarzPlay said. The popularity of Originals “underlines the importance of our commitment to consistently delivering high-quality content for our audiences and we remain dedicated to bringing the finest entertainment to our Saudi viewers,” said Saab. “Saudi Arabia is one of our key markets and we are delighted to witness the ongoing expansion in viewership.” The statistics also reveal that the majority of Saudi StarzPlay viewers use their TVs or mobile phones to stream content, and three times as many people use iOS devices compared with those powered by Android.