It is Wednesday evening. Dinner is over and you are on the sofa, scrolling through streaming options. After watching trailer after trailer, frustration sets in. You settle for a film that has been sitting on your watchlist for months — or switch off the TV altogether.

Does this experience sound familiar?

According to OSN+, streaming users in the MENA region spent an average of 4 minutes and 21 seconds deciding what to watch during the first half of 2026.

Now, the company is seeking to address the problem with Shortcut to Play, an interactive campaign and platform feature designed to help users find films and series within seconds by matching content to their moods, relationship status and everyday dilemmas.

“Sometimes there is just too much choice,” Teresa Rio, VP of Marketing at OSN and Anghami, told Arab News.

“Picking something to watch becomes too time-consuming that we give up before we even press play.”

The campaign uses relatable scenarios — from office drama and family tensions to relationship dilemmas — to help viewers quickly find suitable content.

“Shortcut to Play is really a consumer promise; less searching, more watching. We bring it to life through relatable, everyday situations, told using some of the most familiar shows and movies on OSN+,” Rio said.

OSN+’s latest internal data shows that series remain the most widely watched format in the region. Between 94 and 95 percent of viewers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait watched series during the first nine months of the year, while films reached between 72 and 74 percent of viewers.

Genre preferences varied by market. Crime and drama led in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, while comedy was the UAE’s most popular genre. Horror and mystery were also among the leading preferences in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Arabic and Turkish content showed a clearer market divide, accounting for 32 percent of viewing in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, compared with 19 percent in the UAE.

“Drama is still the common denominator, but what happens around it is quite different,” Rio said.

“Shows like ‘Friends,’ 22 years after it ended, still doing an extraordinary job of being exactly what it’s always been,” she said.

OSN+ is competing in an increasingly crowded market, offering exclusive access to HBO and Paramount+ content alongside Arabic entertainment. The platform is also preparing to launch the new “Harry Potter” series this fall, following the recent release of new seasons of “House of the Dragon” and “From.”

The company completed its merger with audio-streaming platform Anghami in 2025, strengthening its position in Western drama, Hollywood films, Arabic entertainment and integrated music services.

Despite its broad regional offering, Rio cautioned against treating MENA as a single market.

“MENA is a geography, not a genre. There is no single ‘MENA viewer,’” she said.

Global franchises may appear among the most-watched titles across several markets, she said, but their rankings often differ. The sharper distinctions emerge after the initial excitement around major releases fades.

“In some markets, people will happily go back and discover older procedural network television shows. In others, comedy has incredible longevity, or viewers go much deeper into regional content, whether it was released last month or years ago.

“That is the harder, and much more interesting, part of understanding MENA audiences: The big hits may travel, but what keeps people watching afterwards is far more local and personal.”

Shortcut to Play is intended to guide viewers through the volume of new releases and major titles to content that fits their immediate needs, she said.

“Nobody opens a streaming app excited to engage in endless searching,” Rio said.

As consumers spend more time searching, “discovery has become even more central to the entertainment experience. Getting people to play faster has real value, and that insight is what shaped Shortcut to Play.”

But as the industry evolves, viewers’ expectations are changing too.

“Consumers don’t think, ‘I would like better personalization and UX.’ They think, ‘Why can’t I find something I want to watch?,’ which can quickly turn into the streaming equivalent of doom scrolling. That distinction matters.”

Even strong global and regional content, she added, has limited value if viewers are still searching 15 minutes after opening the app.

The challenge is to understand what viewers want, and when. A person looking for something to watch on a phone with 25 minutes to spare may want something very different from what they choose on television at 9 p.m. or on a Saturday morning.

Ultimately, Rio said, OSN+ is competing not only with other streaming services, but for people’s limited free time.

“We compete with other streamers, but our real competition is time. TikTok gets it. YouTube gets it. Gaming gets it. Sleep gets it,” she said.

Viewers may hear about a series from a friend, see it on TikTok or encounter an interview on Instagram before opening OSN+. That means the discovery process begins before they enter the platform.

“Our job starts well before someone arrives on our platform. We owe it to our audience to make sure they know where to find the content they want,” Rio said.

“Once they do, we have to earn the next hour and be a brand people actually want to spend time with.

“There are only 24 hours in a day. Being worth watching is ultimately about being worth someone’s time.”