MBC Shahid Clone App | White Label Arabic OTT Streaming Platform

MBC Shahid clone app: a white label Arabic OTT streaming platform you can launch fast

MBC Shahid, known simply as Shahid, is the largest Arabic streaming service, built by MBC Group to serve the Middle East and the Arabic-speaking world with originals, Ramadan series, movies, kids content, live TV channels, and sports. If you want to build an app like MBC Shahid for your region or your audience, you do not need an eighteen month engineering project. Our MBC Shahid clone app is already built as a full over-the-top streaming platform, it runs, and you can watch a live demo before you spend anything. This page covers what the white label MBC Shahid app includes, how it earns, what it costs, and where the honest limits are.

This is MBC Shahid clone app development done as a product, not a template. You get native iOS and Android apps, a web player, a smart TV app, a full content management back office, and the backend, all sharing one system and delivered under your own brand with the source code in your hands.

Why build an app like MBC Shahid right now

Arabic and MENA audiences are among the fastest-growing streaming markets in the world, and Shahid proved that a regional, Arabic-first platform can win against the global giants by owning local content and language. Shahid is backed by MBC Group, one of the largest broadcasters in the region, and its VIP subscription plus ad-supported free tier is the template every regional OTT operator is now chasing. You can read the background on Shahid on Wikipedia. The opportunity is not limited to Arabic. The same platform works for any language or region where a local catalogue, live TV, and a freemium model beat a generic global service.

The reason the model works is that it stacks revenue. A free ad-supported tier grows the audience and earns ad money, while a premium subscription converts the most engaged viewers into recurring revenue, and one-off rentals capture the rest. Own the content and the language, and a regional OTT app can hold an audience the global services struggle to serve.

Who this MBC Shahid clone is for

Pick this build if you are a broadcaster, a production house, a telecom, or a founder who wants a regional streaming service with real depth: live TV alongside video on demand, a freemium model with both ads and subscriptions, and a right-to-left Arabic-first interface if you serve MENA. If you instead want short vertical dramas with coin unlocks, our DramaBox clone fits that, and for social live streaming with gifting look at the Bigo Live clone. This page is for a full OTT service in the shape of Shahid.

What you get with the white label MBC Shahid app

Everything below is included in the readymade build, and you own all of it after handover.

Complete feature breakdown

Every part is built like a real streaming product. Here is what ships across the MBC Shahid clone app.

Viewer app features

• Video on demand catalogue for series, movies, kids, and documentaries, with seasons, episodes, and trailers.
• Live TV channels with an electronic program guide, catch-up, and start-over.
• Adaptive HLS streaming up to 4K with a player that supports subtitles, multiple audio tracks, and playback speed.
• Right-to-left Arabic UI plus full localisation for any language you serve.
• Freemium access with a free ad-supported tier and a premium subscription that removes ads and unlocks exclusives.
• Downloads for offline viewing with DRM protection.
• Multiple profiles and parental controls per household, with kids mode.
• Personalised recommendations, continue watching, watchlist, and search.
• Cast to TV with Chromecast and AirPlay, and a full smart TV experience.
• Push notifications for new episodes, live events, and win-back campaigns.

Admin and content management features

• Content ingestion for series, seasons, episodes, movies, and live channels, with bulk upload and metadata.
• Scheduling for Ramadan-style daily drops and live event calendars.
• Subscription and plan management with free trials, promo codes, and regional pricing.
• Ad management for the free tier, including server-side ad insertion hooks.
• Real-time analytics on views, watch time, churn, and revenue across AVOD and SVOD.
• User management with devices, refunds, and access controls.
• Content moderation, age ratings, and geo-blocking by territory.
• Role-based team access for editors, schedulers, finance, and support.

Live TV and sports

Shahid is not only video on demand, it runs live channels and live sports, and your clone supports the same. The platform ingests live streams, protects them with DRM, and serves them with low latency, an electronic program guide, and catch-up, so you can run linear channels and live events next to your on-demand catalogue.

Supported devices and platforms

How an app like MBC Shahid makes money

The strength of the Shahid model is a hybrid of revenue streams running in parallel from day one.

The common play is to grow the audience on the free ad-supported tier, then convert engaged viewers to the premium subscription, while premieres and live events add rental revenue on top.

Tech stack, built to stream at scale

This is the architecture under the hood. We adjust it to your budget and launch markets.

• Mobile: React Native for native iOS and Android with a smooth adaptive player.
• Web and admin: Next.js and React for a fast streaming site and content back office.
• Backend: Node.js with the subscription, entitlement, and billing logic modelled correctly.
• Database and cache: PostgreSQL for accounts and billing, with Redis for sessions and playback state.
• Video: AWS S3 plus CloudFront or BunnyCDN, with an FFmpeg pipeline producing adaptive HLS renditions up to 4K.
• DRM: Widevine, FairPlay, and PlayReady support so premium and live content stays protected.
• Payments: Stripe, PayPal, Apple and Google in-app purchase, and regional gateways with carrier billing.
• Notifications: Firebase for push, deployed with Docker for auto-scaling across regions.

Customization, RTL Arabic, and true white label

You are not buying our brand, you are buying a platform that becomes yours. Logo, colours, typography, app name, and store listings are all yours. So is the language: the app ships with a right-to-left Arabic-first interface and full localisation, so you can launch in Arabic, English, French, or any market you serve. Region-specific pricing, currencies, geo-blocking, payment gateways, and the free-versus-premium content rules are all configurable, and if you send a UI reference we match it.

Pricing for the MBC Shahid clone app

Honest, tiered pricing with no surprise modules mid-project. It is a one-time price of $4,500 - $18,000 depending on scope, most builds go live in 7-30 days, and every tier includes full source code, free deployment, documentation, and 3 months of free support.

Streaming has real running costs beyond the build. Video encoding, CDN bandwidth, and DRM licensing scale with your audience, and hosting typically runs from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a month. We size all of it with you before launch so there are no surprises.

MBC Shahid clone vs building from scratch

The honest part: the platform is fast, the content and licensing are your job

We will not oversell this. The streaming software is the solved, fast piece, and we deliver it in weeks with the source code in your hands. What decides whether your service earns is the content, the licensing, and the acquisition funnel, and that part is yours. You license or produce the series, films, and live channels, you clear the rights for your territories, and you run the campaigns that bring viewers in. DRM licensing and CDN bandwidth are real recurring costs that scale with your audience, and we are straight with you about that on the demo call because that honesty is worth more than a rushed sale. You can browse the full lineup in our white-label app catalogue.

Written by the Make An App Like build team. We build streaming, OTT, and content apps, and we back this one with a full working demo before you pay, because the product should sell itself.