ARY Digital has built an audience of around 69 million YouTube subscribers, with its dramas generating billions of views. For Pakistani television, YouTube has become more than a place to upload content it provides revenue, distribution and access to audiences in Pakistan and abroad.

ARY is now attempting to bring part of that audience onto ARY Plus. Since September 17, ARY Plus has made full episodes of some dramas available there rather than on YouTube, placing more of the broadcaster’s content on a platform it controls.

The move makes business sense. YouTube provides distribution and access to an existing user base, but an owned platform gives a broadcaster more control over advertising, audience data, recommendations, content placement and, potentially, subscriptions.

Current ARY Plus reviews include complaints about registration and verification, buffering, crashes, playback and compatibility with some devices. Users have also compared the service with features available on YouTube, including offline downloads and playback speed controls.

An Over the Top (OTT) service cannot depend only on moving television programmes from one screen to another. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and streaming services in India compete through original programming, different genres and a regular pipeline of releases.

Pakistan’s broadcasters would therefore need to invest not only in platforms but also in what those platforms carry. If viewers are offered the same actors, genres, and television formats through another application, they have less incentive to change their viewing habits.

This also creates opportunities for new writers, directors, and content creators. A streaming platform needs more programming than a television schedule built around a limited number of drama slots. That demand could create room for crime series, thrillers, comedy, documentaries, limited series and other forms of storytelling that receive less space on television.

An owned Pakistani streaming platform could also provide another distribution route when Pakistani productions encounter barriers in regional or international markets. Concerns have previously been raised about resistance to Pakistani content in India and reported pressure surrounding Pakistani projects intended for international streaming platforms.

If Pakistani producers retreat entirely to local platforms, they risk limiting the audience they are trying to build. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube and other international services offer access to viewers who may otherwise have little exposure to Pakistani entertainment. The stronger model may therefore be to pursue both markets build local platforms that allow Pakistani companies to control and monetise their audiences, while continuing to place Pakistani productions on international services.

That matters beyond revenue. Film, television and streaming content are also channels through which countries export language, culture, music and stories. Broader distribution of Pakistani productions can strengthen Pakistan’s cultural presence abroad and its soft power.

ARY Plus, therefore, should not be judged only by download figures or app ratings. Its test will be whether ARY can move some of its YouTube audience onto a platform it owns, generate revenue from that relationship and produce enough new programming to keep viewers there. YouTube has already demonstrated that there is an audience for Pakistani content. The next question is whether Pakistan can turn that audience into a streaming industry without cutting itself off from the global platforms where the competition for viewers is taking place.