ARY Digital moves premium dramas for viewers in Pakistan to ARY Plus — Dawn
Pakistani television channel ARY Digital has restricted access to premium dramas on YouTube for viewers in Pakistan and is directing them to its own ARY Plus app. Outside the country, these series remain free on YouTube. Dawn writes about the broadcaster’s strategy and its potential risks.
ARY Plus can currently be downloaded and used for free. A paid option is available for watching the uncut live stream of the Tamasha reality show: it costs 100 Pakistani rupees in the country and $1 abroad. According to the channel’s early statistics, the app was downloaded 10.8 million times before its official launch, while the average viewing time was 25 minutes.
Betting on its own platform
ARY Digital used the success of Tamasha’s fifth season to promote ARY Plus. ARY Chief Executive Officer Salman Iqbal also spoke about creating a broader platform for Urdu-language content and invited competing networks to participate.
The publication notes that moving premium content to its own platform gives ARY greater control over local advertising, distribution and user data. At the same time, this decision divides the audience between two services. YouTube was precisely what gave Pakistani dramas a large international audience and millions of views for individual episodes.
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Challenges for the streaming format
Dawn points out that the number of downloads is not equivalent to the audience’s willingness to pay for content. For a paid model, series must give viewers sufficient reasons to return to the app and choose them among other available offerings.
Among the challenges for Pakistani dramas, the publication names the pace of storytelling, reliance on dialogue and the habit of stretching out conflict to fit the television broadcast schedule. For streaming, where users can watch several episodes in a row, a clearer series structure, visual expressiveness, as well as high-quality subtitles and dubbing for non-Urdu-speaking audiences are important.
The author of the article also believes that broadcasters should report not only downloads but also audience retention, and commission localized projects created specifically for online viewing.
