Emerging Market to Drive Global Subscriber Growth

NEW YORK, July 26, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ahead of its historic listing on NASDAQ New York via proposed merger with Vistas Media Acquisition Company, a special purpose acquisition company (NASDAQ:VMAC), Anghami, the Middle East and North Africa’s largest music platform, announced today that it has sponsored MIDiA Research’s new report, Local Sounds, Global Cultures MENA Music Market Opportunity.

MIDiA Research is a go-to source of market research, working with corporate sponsors to publish independent analysis of addressable markets and their dynamics. The report, authored by Srishti Das and Kriss Thakrar, highlights key trends in the music streaming market in the MENA region, including:

• With global music subscribers set to exceed half a billion by end 2021 and nearing saturation in developed markets, the industry focus has shifted to the next billion users. Emerging markets are acquiring unprecedented importance, representing the most likely source of strong streaming growth just when the newly-listed record labels need a growth narrative for investors.
• Between 2017 and 2020, the U.S. and Europe reduced their share of global streaming revenues from 76% to 73% as other regions outgrew them.
• This shift will continue to accelerate. MENA, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Rest of World will account for 73% of global subscriber growth between 2020 and 2028, growing subscriber share from 46% to 59% over the same period.
• In emerging markets, local players are in a better position to associate themselves with local independent music, being better positioned to take the lead when it comes to local repertoire.
• Local streaming services will have a better understanding of local habits and values, allowing them to cater to diverse populations within one market. Through pricing and product, local services are catering to very local behaviors. This gives them a differentiated dynamic that is hard for global players to compete with, unless they commit to large local music teams on the ground.
• Local players find themselves in a position where they can dilute the homogeneity of the global streaming services through focus on local cultural diversity and local talent. They will all continue to grow at different rates and continue to provide new culture, content and opportunities to the global music market. More streaming success stories are to come from the emerging markets.

For further information, or to download a free version of the report, please click here or visit https://midiaresearch.com/.

Anghami recently announced it expects to become a publicly traded company via a merger with Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc. (NASDAQ: VMAC), a special purpose acquisition company. For more information about the transaction, please visit https://vmac.media/.

About Anghami
Anghami is the leading digital music entertainment technology platform in the Middle East and North Africa, with the largest catalog comprising of more than 57 million songs available for more than 70 million users. When it launched in 2012, Anghami was the first music-streaming platform in MENA. In digitizing the region’s music, it has become the best-known and best-loved brand in music streaming in MENA. Today, Anghami features licensed content from leading Arabic labels, independent artists and distributors. Anghami also features music from the major International labels such as Universal, Sony, Warner and is continuously licensing new content. Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, it has offices in Beirut, Dubai, Cairo and Riyadh and operates in 16 countries across MENA. It is the only service available in English, Arabic and French, and remains close to its customer base, not only thanks to its pan-regional presence but also via the 56 million user data points it generates every day.

To learn more about Anghami, please visit www.anghami.com.

About Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc.
VMAC is a blank check company, also commonly referred to as a Special Purpose Acquisition Company, or SPAC, formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities in the Global Media and Entertainment sector.

To learn more about Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc., please visit https://vmac.media.

About MIDiA Research
MIDiA Research is a market intelligence and consulting firm with longstanding expertise in the business of entertainment and digital media. We are the definitive source for music and content business analysis, research and data within the global music industry. Our client base encompasses the major record labels, large independent labels, music publishers, performing rights organizations (PROs), leading streaming services, niche streaming services, hardware companies, the tech majors, distribution companies, artist services companies, artist management and more. We help businesses formulate commercially actionable strategy to navigate the evolving digital landscape, providing unparalleled insights into trends and innovations shaping the entertainment market and audience behaviors. Our clients leverage our expertise and insight, proprietary multi-country consumer data and market forecasts to help them make smarter decisions faster.

For more details visit our website: www.midiaresearch.com.

Contacts:

Investors:

VMAC:
F. Jacob Cherian, CEO
+1 212- 859-3525
fjc@vmac.media

ICR:
Ashley DeSimone / Brett Milotte, ICR
Ashley.desimone@icrinc.com / Brett.milotte@icrinc.com

U.S. Media:
Keil Decker
Keil.Decker@icrinc.com

Middle East Media:
Sunil John / Sophie McNulty, ASDA’A BCW
Sunil.john@bcw-global.com / Sophie.mcnulty@bcw-global.com