Anghami's Revenue Surge Amid Persistent Losses: Assessing Long-Term Viability in the Streaming Sector

The streaming sector remains a high-stakes arena for investors, balancing explosive growth with razor-thin margins. Anghami Inc., a regional leader in music and video streaming, has demonstrated a compelling mix of revenue acceleration and strategic expansion, even as it grapples with significant losses. For 2025, the company's first-half performance underscores its ability to scale rapidly, but the sustainability of this trajectory hinges on its capacity to convert subscriber growth into profitability.

Revenue Growth: A Double-Edged Sword

Anghami's financial results for the first half of 2025 reveal a striking , driven by the integration of OSN+ and a surge in subscription income. This growth is underpinned by a doubling of its paid subscriber base . Such metrics highlight Anghami's dominance in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, where demand for localized content and digital entertainment is surging.

However, this rapid expansion comes at a cost. , attributed to heavy investments in OSN+ integration and subscriber acquisition. This mirrors broader industry trends, where streaming platforms prioritize market capture over immediate profitability. For context, .

Loss Trends: A Tale of Strategic Sacrifice

The widening losses in 2024, , reveal the delicate balance Anghami must strike. While the company narrowed its operating loss in early 2024, the full-year results were dragged down by integration costs and higher operational expenses. This pattern suggests a deliberate strategy: investing heavily in infrastructure and user acquisition to secure long-term market share, even at the expense of short-term profitability.

Management's guidance for 2025 reinforces this approach. Anghami anticipates continued topline growth in the second half of the year but acknowledges that profitability will remain under pressure due to ongoing investment needs. This aligns with the broader streaming sector's playbook, where companies like Netflix and Spotify have historically prioritized user growth over margins during expansion phases.

Long-Term Viability: Can Anghami Sustain the Momentum?

The critical question for investors is whether Anghami's losses are a temporary phase or a structural challenge. Several factors suggest optimism:
1. Scalable Infrastructure: The integration of has expanded Anghami's content library and distribution capabilities, creating a more diversified revenue stream.
2. Subscriber Economics: With 3.54 million paid subscribers, Anghami's unit economics are improving. .
3. Market Potential, offering Anghami a vast addressable audience.

Yet risks persist. The company's reliance on continuous capital infusion to fund losses could strain liquidity, particularly if integration synergies materialize slower than expected. Additionally, competition from global players like Spotify and Apple Music, which are increasingly tailoring content for the MENA region, could erode Anghami's market share.

Conclusion: A High-Risk, High-Reward Proposition

Anghami's 2025 performance exemplifies the classic trade-off between growth and profitability in the streaming sector. While its revenue surge and subscriber milestones are impressive, the path to profitability remains uncertain. Investors must weigh the company's strategic investments against the risk of prolonged losses. For now, Anghami's ability to execute on its integration roadmap and optimize costs will be pivotal. If successful, it could emerge as a dominant regional player; if not, the losses may prove unsustainable.