Netflix, Spotify, and the Algerian Dinar Problem

In December 2023, Google made a quiet but significant announcement: YouTube Music and YouTube Premium were officially launching in Algeria, with locally priced subscriptions. It was the first time a major international streaming platform had offered Algerians a legal, dinar-denominated path to a premium subscription. The news was celebrated in Algerian tech communities with a mixture of relief and wry recognition — because for Netflix, Spotify, and essentially every other international subscription service, the dinar wall remains firmly in place.

This is Algeria’s subscription economy paradox. With 36.2 million internet users, a median age of around 28, and a population that tops MENA averages for time spent watching video and listening to music, Algeria represents a significant streaming audience. Yet most Algerians cannot pay for the services they use through official channels.

Streaming in Algeria: The Real Numbers

Precise subscription counts for individual streaming platforms in Algeria are not publicly disclosed. What the data does show: video streaming user penetration in Algeria reached an estimated 10.7% of the population in 2024, projected to grow to 12.9% by 2027, according to Statista. The MENA streaming market as a whole surpassed $1.5 billion in 2025, with SVOD subscriptions across the region exceeding 27 million — confirmed by Omdia’s May 2025 market report, which also projects the region’s online video market growing more than fivefold to $8.4 billion by 2029.

Within MENA, Shahid — the MBC Group’s Arabic streaming platform — leads with approximately 4.4 million subscribers, followed by YouTube Premium (3.7 million) and Netflix (3 million across all MENA as of December 2024). Algeria’s share of those regional totals is not broken out, but a country of 46 million people with strong Arabic content consumption is a meaningful contributor.

Spotify launched in Algeria in November 2018 and ranks as the top music streaming platform in the country. Its user base skews young — 51.2% of Algerian Spotify users are aged 18-24. Algerian artists are gaining global streaming traction: rapper Soolking appears in Spotify’s top 10 most-streamed African artists globally, demonstrating that the streaming relationship is bidirectional — Algeria is consuming and producing streamed content at real scale.

The Payment Barrier in Detail

The problem is structural, not technical. Standard Algerian bank cards — whether the CIB debit card issued by commercial banks or the Edahabia prepaid card from Algeria Poste — are not accepted by Netflix, Spotify, or most major international subscription platforms. The cards are denominated in dinars, which cannot be freely converted to the foreign currency these platforms charge in.

The experience is consistent: enter a card number, hit pay, receive a payment declined error. Some users report that specific bank-issued CIB cards from particular institutions occasionally process on certain platforms — but this is inconsistent, undocumented behavior that can change without notice as payment processors update their country-level rules.

YouTube Premium, as of December 2023, is the notable exception: Google’s expansion to Algeria, Jordan, Iraq, and Tunisia brought officially localized pricing that can be paid through local payment methods. This makes YouTube Premium one of the very few international streaming subscriptions Algerians can access legally and directly.

The Workaround Economy

Unable to pay officially, Algerians have built an extensive and sophisticated workaround ecosystem:

VCC resellers: Virtual credit card providers like Vizovcc, Gpaynow, and Bitnob offer Algerian users USD- or EUR-denominated virtual cards that are accepted by international platforms. Vizovcc reported processing over 2 million virtual card transactions in 2024 at a 98% success rate — cards used for Netflix, Google Ads, Figma, Canva, and similar services. These VCCs are funded through foreign bank accounts and sold to Algerian buyers at a premium above the official exchange rate.

Gift card networks: Platforms like G2A sell Spotify Premium 12-month subscription cards keyed specifically to Algeria, and similar options exist for Netflix and other services. The cards are fulfilled through accounts funded abroad and effectively allow dinar payments at an informal exchange rate.

Subscription resellers: Local services like Subcharge.store offer Netflix, Canva Pro, Spotify, and other premium subscriptions at DZD-denominated prices, using 100% Algerian payment methods (Edahabia, CCP, BaridiMob). These services purchase international subscriptions through foreign accounts and resell access to Algerian users. They occupy a legal grey zone — not explicitly illegal, but operating outside the terms of service of the platforms they resell.

Family abroad: The simplest and most common workaround for consumer subscriptions. A family member in France, Canada, or Belgium registers and pays for the account, sharing access with family in Algeria. Before Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown, this was the most friction-free model.

Account sharing pools: Organized through WhatsApp and Telegram groups, account sharing pools split the cost of a single subscription (typically Netflix or Spotify) across four to six users. One person — usually someone with foreign payment access — holds the account and collects dinar payments from the other participants.

When Crackdowns Hit

Netflix’s 2023 password-sharing crackdown reached MENA markets in July 2023, several months after its initial global rollout. The platform uses IP addresses, Wi-Fi networks, and device IDs to identify accounts shared beyond a single household, notifying users by email before cutting off access. The global impact was measurable — Netflix added approximately 6 million subscribers in three months following the crackdown — but for Algerian users without legitimate payment access, forced off shared accounts, the alternatives were limited.

Some users migrated to subscription resellers. Others moved to account sharing via VCC-funded accounts. A portion turned to Arabic platforms with better regional payment access. The crackdown revealed the structural fragility of access built on workarounds: it can be disrupted at any time by platform policy decisions that have nothing to do with Algeria specifically.

Regional Alternatives: Shahid and OSN+

Shahid, the MBC Group’s SVOD platform, is Arabic-first and content-rich — Arabic originals, international licensed content, Turkish drama, and Bollywood titles, with a library that reflects North African and Levantine tastes. It has 4.4 million subscribers across MENA, making it the region’s largest streaming platform by subscribers. Shahid accepts regional payment methods across its MENA markets.

OSN+, which carries HBO and premium international content, has an active presence in Algeria. Its Standard with Ads plan is available in Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, and several other Arab markets. In December 2025, Shahid, OSN+, and Disney+ launched a landmark GCC-focused streaming bundle at approximately $25/month — but this bundle is currently limited to GCC countries and not yet available in Algeria.

The question of whether Arabic-first platforms are “enough” depends on audience preferences. For a viewer whose content consumption is primarily Arabic drama, Shahid and OSN+ are competitive alternatives. For someone who watches English-language content or uses Spotify for international music discovery, they are not substitutes.

The Subscription Economy Beyond Video

The payment barrier extends well beyond streaming video into every recurring digital subscription:

Productivity and SaaS: Microsoft 365, Adobe Creative Cloud, Notion, and Slack all require foreign currency payment. DZD billing is not available.

Cloud storage: Google One (beyond the DZD-accessible YouTube Premium tier), Dropbox, and iCloud all bill in foreign currency. The 15GB free tier of Google accounts is widely used; paid storage upgrades are inaccessible through official means.

Gaming: PlayStation Store and Xbox Game Pass do not offer DZD pricing. Gaming platform subscriptions follow the same workaround economy as streaming — gift cards, VCCs, family payments.

Developer tools: GitHub Pro, JetBrains, Vercel Pro — covered separately in the context of startup infrastructure costs — represent the professional productivity dimension of the same problem.

What Would Fix This

Three mechanisms could substantially change Algeria’s subscription access:

DZD-denominated billing: If platforms like Netflix and Spotify followed YouTube’s lead and launched locally priced, DZD-billed subscriptions, they would unlock millions of paying customers who are currently workaround users. Netflix has done this in Egypt, Morocco, and Nigeria — the precedent exists within the same region.

MENA payment partnership expansion: Telecommunications operators like Djezzy and Ooredoo have carrier billing capabilities — charging subscription fees directly to mobile phone bills. These partnerships are standard in GCC markets. Extending them to Algeria would allow direct subscription billing without any card requirement.

Prepaid card expansion: An internationally accepted prepaid card denominated in DZD, available through Algeria Poste or a licensed digital bank, would provide Algerians with the payment instrument needed to access global services directly. The October 2024 Digital Bank Regulation creates the legal basis for such a product; whether any institution will build it remains to be seen.

Sources & Further Reading

• Video Streaming SVoD Market Forecast Algeria — Statista
• Omdia: SVOD Growth to Drive MENA Streaming Market Past $1.5 Billion in 2025 — Business Wire
• MENA Streaming Market to Hit $1.5 Billion — BroadcastPro ME
• Netflix Expands Crackdown to MENA — Arab News
• YouTube Music and Premium Expands to Algeria — Google Blog
• Shahid, Disney+ and OSN+ Launch Streaming Bundle — Hollywood Reporter
• MENA SVOD Subscribers by Platform — Statista
• Virtual Credit Card for Algeria — Vizovcc
• Spotify Users in Algeria — Start.io
• Spotify Premium Algeria Gift Card — G2A
• Digital 2025: Algeria — DataReportal