MBC Group maintains strong operational momentum, improved profitability across segments: CEO

Mike Sneesby, CEO of MBC Group

Mike Sneesby, CEO of MBC Group, affirmed that the Group continues to maintain strong operational momentum and improved profitability, while sustaining investments in high-quality content to drive growth and expand audience engagement.

In an interview with Argaam, Sneesby noted that the SHAHID platform managed to narrow its losses during Q2 2025 compared to the same period of 2024, thanks to the content and engagement strategies it has implemented.

He expects the Group to deliver strong performance in H2 2025, driven by a focus on providing unique and distinguished content.

Here are details of the interview:

Q: MBC GROUP  double digit revenue growth, an increase of 37.8% Year-on-Year (YoY) to SAR 3,031.8 million. What is your comment on these results?

A: We are very pleased with the performance in the first half of 2025, with significant growth across all our business segments – Broadcasting and Other Commercial Activities (BOCA), SHAHID and Media &Entertainment (M&E) initiatives.

BOCA remained the Group’s primary earnings driver, supported by continued strength in broadcast and technical services. SHAHID also continued to deliver strong top and bottom-line momentum, driven by a consistent focus on profitable growth and ongoing investment in premium content to support both revenue expansion and platform engagement.

Our third business segment – M&E also continued to deliver strong growth in H1 2025, with very solid revenues and net profit for the period, as it continues to deliver on key project milestones.

Looking at Q2 2025 specifically, the Group's revenues were up 2.5% YoY and Q2 2025 net profit stood at SAR 71.9 million, compared to SAR 116.5 million in Q2 2024, mainly reflecting the timing of Ramadan-related advertising and subscriptions revenues skewing more into the first quarter this year.

Overall, we are in a strong position, maintaining solid operational momentum and improved profitability across segments. Our strategic and capital allocation decisions continue to prove effective, as we invest in quality content and engaging platforms to drive long-term growth and deepen audience engagement.

Q: Could you elaborate on the performance of the broadcasting & other commercial activities (BOCA) and their impact on the overall financial results?

A: Our broadcasting & other commercial activities (BOCA) segment remains the Group’s largest contributor and a key growth driver.

TV revenues, which include advertising revenues, grew 13.3% year-on-year to SAR 863.4 million. Our advertising performance continues to benefit from our geographically diversified footprint, helping to offset the impact of geopolitical volatility.

The broadcasting & technical revenues segment remains a strategic revenue contributor, supported by a strong project pipeline and a solid track record of delivering high-impact work across the Kingdom, registering a revenue increase of 52.7% to SAR 740 million.

We are also embedding AI into core workflows — from subtitling and dubbing to content moderation, scheduling, and operational efficiency — aligning programming more closely with viewer preferences and commercial goals.

Q: How do you evaluate the SHAHID performance in H1 2025? What are the drivers of this growth and your outlook for the growth of SHAHID in the coming period?

A: SHAHID has been on a solid growth journey. Revenues grew significantly, and we recorded a solid net profit of SAR 2.7 million vs SAR 23.2 million net loss for the same period last year. SHAHID also narrowed its losses in Q2 2025 versus Q2 2024, a testament to the strength of the platform’s ongoing content and engagement strategies.

The first half of the year was strong. We saw a very successful Ramadan season, and the positive momentum continued into Q2 — helping to soften the usual post-Ramadan seasonality.

This performance was driven by a combination of strong subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and advertising-video-on-demand (AVOD) growth, which saw a revenue increase of 24.4% and 24.7% respectively. AVOD growth is supported by innovative ad formats and improved fill rates during Ramadan peak, while SVOD was driven by a clear content strategy and the continued expansion of our partnerships segment. We had also implemented password-sharing policy, limiting account usage to a single IP address unless upgraded to a premium tier, which was implemented in Q1 2025 and continued to benefit our SVOD revenues.

We remain focused on growing SHAHID within the MENA streaming landscape. Our solid content strategy and diversified year-round offering position us strongly for continued growth across both SVOD and AVOD, with ample opportunities to expand reach and monetization. While the conclusion of SPL rights in August 2025 will represent a shift in our sports content mix, we remain confident in the platform’s growth trajectory. The Group continues to focus on great opportunities to invest in sports, and broader sports, premium content and partnerships that allow us to deliver that.

The platform will also prioritize expanding its reach by targeting untapped demographics and enhancing the user experience through technology, AI, and data-driven insights — boosting both engagement and revenue.

Q: How does MBC GROUP's content strategy, including premium originals and international adaptations, influence viewer engagement and revenue growth? Do you expect this will continue in the short term?

A: Content remains a key performance driver across both SHAHID and linear platforms in H1 2025. We are committed to producing world-class local content through high-quality, culturally authentic storytelling that spans drama, entertainment, and sports.

H1 2025 saw a focus on regional content, especially during the Holy Month of Ramadan. Titles included Share’ Al A’sha, a social drama series set in the Kingdom and Yawmiyat Rajul Anis, a comedy series, which were great successes.

The second quarter saw the launch of three significant titles – Ommi, the Saudi-Turkish adaptation, Aser, a compelling pan-Arab drama thriller, and Nadeena football show.

As of the end of Q2 2025, our content pipeline consisted of over 150 projects, with more than 90% of them scheduled for production in Saudi Arabia. This reflects MBC GROUP’s deepening commitment to supporting the Kingdom’s creative economy through local production and talent development.

We also recently completed Top Chef Season 9 at Al Narjis, showcasing Al Narjis Studios strong capability and readiness to support large-format productions.

Our Al Narjis studios, is a significant project, enabling us to build long-term technical capability in-Kingdom, create cost efficiencies, and making it home of content production, broadcasting, and content creation, supporting the broader Vision 2030-aligned production strategy. Looking ahead, we have nine additional projects scheduled for production at Al Narjis under MBC Studios.

Q: Do you expect the strong performance to be sustained in the remainder of 2025 and beyond? What are MBC Group's key priorities for H2 2025 to maintain growth and profitability?

A: We expect strong performance in the second half, driven by our continued focus on premium, differentiated content. Our strategy remains centred on growing our core segments — broadcast, streaming, content, and media services — while embracing innovation and pursuing aligned partnerships.

We remain focused on enhancing audience engagement and creating long-term value through scalable content, digital platform growth, and disciplined investment in opportunities that align with our strategic goals.