Advanced Television

YahLive claims 51m viewers

March 20, 2017

By Chris Forrester

On the eve of the CABSAT show in Dubai, YahSat is claiming that it now has some 51 million viewers, and 100 per cent growth over the past two years, according to data from Ipsos Connect.

Ipsos says that Abu Dhabi-based satellite operator YahLive remains the most popular supplier of Farsi programming in the Middle East and South-West Asia region for the third year in a row.

The Ipsos report found that the total number of viewers of Farsi content over DTH and Terrestrial Networks grew from 39 million to over 51 million. This increase has been attributed to the premium content YahLive has on offer for the Farsi community and technical excellence in terms of signal power and reliability.

Currently, out of 66 per cent of the Farsi speaking population that receives satellite channels at home, 60 per cent opt for YahLive services. YahLive’s DTH market penetration figure is remarkably high with a total of 34,574,400 viewers.

Sami Boustany, CEO at YahLive, says his satellite now carries more than 300 channels. “We have now reached a critical mass. We are now firmly placed as the Number 1 Farsi-language operator. Last year we wanted to try and do much the same, and bring together on one satellite all the channels going to the Maghreb. I can confirm that we now carrying more than 80 channels having added 50 channels in January 2017, mostly private channels and mainly targeting Algeria.”

[*A full interview with Sami Boustany, as well as with the other MENA region market leaders, is available in Euromedia’s special CABSAT edition.]

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, DTH/Satellite