Orange MEA Partners ReelShort for Max it TV in 2026

In Short

• Orange Middle East and Africa (Orange MEA) has signed a multi-year partnership with ReelShort.
• The deal will distribute ReelShort micro-dramas on Max it TV inside Orange’s Max it app.
• The rollout starts in an initial set of markets in 2026, then expands across 17 markets in Africa and the Middle East.

What Happened

Orange MEA announced a multi-year content partnership with ReelShort, a vertical micro-drama platform run by Crazy Maple Studio. The agreement will bring ReelShort series into Max it TV, the entertainment hub inside Max it.

“Vertical micro-dramas” are short, serialized videos designed for phone screens, similar to social video but structured like bite-sized TV episodes. For telecom operators, this kind of content can be bundled with data plans, which are mobile internet packages sold in fixed sizes.

Orange MEA said the partnership will cover seventeen markets across Africa and the Middle East. The launch is planned to begin with a first wave of countries in 2026, followed by a progressive rollout to the remaining territories over the term of the deal.

Why It Matters

For Orange, exclusive or bundled video content can help reduce churn, which is when customers switch networks. It can also push more data usage and increase time spent inside the operator’s own app, instead of users going straight to global streaming services.

For ReelShort, distribution through a major telecom group offers a route to scale in markets where paid card subscriptions can be harder to maintain. Telco distribution can also lower friction by tying entertainment access to airtime and data purchasing habits.

More broadly, the partnership is another sign that telcos are rebuilding their “super app” strategies around entertainment hubs. In practice, this means operators are trying to become storefronts for video, music, and other digital services, not just providers of connectivity.