MENA’s music and entertainment streaming platform Anghami Inc. has announced the acquisition of Spotlight Events, an events and concert company specialized in managing and executing live events and concerts in the region.
The partnership will see Spotlight Events become Anghami’s arm for live events and concerts, including offline activities and activations to further expand Anghami’s footprint in the music and entertainment ecosystem while unlocking opportunities between the physical and digital worlds.
While Spotlight Events will provide a stage for artists to perform and reach their audiences offline, Anghami’s technology will bridge the gap between the offline and online worlds by providing access to exclusive concerts through its live video streaming capabilities and creating immersive experiences through AR and VR. The strategic partnership will enable Anghami to unlock opportunities between artists and brands, enriching music fans’ experiences with exclusive access to private concerts, VIP lounges, meet & greets and backstage access, in addition to attending concerts either offline or streamed through their devices. Traditional and virtual concerts will be accessible either through tickets or sponsored by brands.
Eddy Maroun, co-founder and CEO of Anghami commented: “Our vision is to expand from music streaming to a fully integrated entertainment platform that meets our goal of building our own unique category that no other provider can compete with. This partnership will allow us to deliver unique experiences to our users while giving artists a stage to perform and reach their fans physically and virtually. Spotlight and Anghami Lab are among a number of initiatives that we plan to develop as new business extensions to accelerate our growth and improve our margins while widening the gap with our competitors. Maher has built a great business on solid economics and has proven that live concerts and events are a scalable and profitable business.”
Spotlight Events has recently confirmed its program of upcoming concerts and events in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Paris, Cairo and Riyadh, including “Beat the Heat”, a 7-concert festival organized in collaboration with the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing – Dubai (DTCM). Also in Abu Dhabi, 6 concerts are planned for the rest of the year, to be announced at a later date. Also on the schedule is the much anticipated live concert by the Arab superstar Wael Kfoury in Paris. Spotlight will also be executing all of Anghami’s events, including “Amr Diab Live” and other major surprises to be unveiled soon.
Maher Khawkhaji, founder and CEO of Spotlight added: “Anghami is the largest music platform in the MENA region with an incredible number of users and a unique network of partnerships that, once connected to Spotlight, will open doors to amazing opportunities. Our offline expertise, complemented by Anghami’s reach, data and technical capabilities, is the perfect recipe for success. We look forward to being part of this dynamic team and unleashing the incredible potential to bring the best to music fans, artists and brands and take entertainment to the next level.”
The announcement follows Anghami’s recent IPO on Nasdaq as the first Arab tech company to list on the U.S. stock market and the unveiling of an all-new brand identity to support the next phase of growth for the company, which is evolving from a music streaming platform to an entertainment platform.
