Company Dossier · Media & Entertainment · Riyadh
Telfaz11
The Riyadh studio that started on YouTube and now owns the Saudi box office.
The Riyadh studio that started on YouTube and now owns the Saudi box office.
Long before Saudi Arabia reopened its cinemas, three friends in Riyadh were making videos for an audience nobody else was serving.
In 2011, Alaa Fadan, Ali Al Kalthami and Ibraheem Alkhairallah looked at Saudi television and saw a gap: content made for Saudi youth, in their own voice, about their own lives. They started a YouTube network and named it Telfaz11 - "telfaz" is Arabic for television, and "11" marks the year they believed a new age of creative expression had begun in the Arab world.
The early work was digital and scrappy: web series like Khambalah and Lutshps that built a young, loyal following at a time when there was barely an advertising market for online video in the Middle East. That head start mattered. When Saudi Arabia lifted its 35-year ban on commercial cinemas in December 2017, Telfaz11 already had the audience, the talent and the instincts most newcomers were still trying to acquire.
What followed was a deliberate climb from clips to features. The studio split its work into distinct lanes - original digital content, a client-led branded-content arm, and a premium film-and-series slate - and began financing and producing movies designed first for Saudi viewers and second for everyone else. It was a bet that specificity, not dilution, would travel.
The bet paid off in the most public way possible. In 2022 the studio released Sattar, a comedy about a depressed man who becomes a freestyle wrestler, and watched it become the highest-grossing Saudi film ever made.
Telfaz11 is widely regarded for introducing a new era of innovative and impactful storytelling in the Arab world.- Telfaz11 company profile
Telfaz11 is not one thing. It runs three connected engines - and each one feeds the others.
Web series, short-form video and social-first entertainment - the studio's founding lane and the reason millions of Saudis knew the name before it ever made a feature film.
Client-led commercial and branded productions that let brands borrow Telfaz11's cultural fluency - a steady business that funds bigger creative swings.
Telfaz11 Studios develops feature films and long-form series across local box-office, streaming (SVOD) and international festival slates.
Who its customers are. On one side sit audiences - the young, mostly Saudi and Gulf viewers who follow its channels and fill its cinema screenings. On the other sit platforms and brands: Netflix, which licenses and co-produces its films for nearly 200 million subscribers, and commercial clients commissioning branded content.
The problems it solves. For a generation of Arab viewers, mainstream media rarely reflected their humor, dialect or daily reality. Telfaz11's answer was "uber-local" storytelling - films and shows so specific that only a Saudi audience gets every joke, which is exactly why they connect. For a young national film industry, it also solves a supply problem: home-grown content that can actually compete for ticket sales.
In Saudi Arabia, 'Sattar' drew more cinema admissions than two of the biggest global films of 2023.
Three roles that rarely sit in one person - split cleanly across three people.
Set the business foundation and helped lay the groundwork for the region's short-form video industry.
Brought experience from MBC Group and directed titles including 'Night Courier' - the studio's creative compass.
A pioneer of Saudi stand-up comedy whose feel for an audience shaped hits like 'Sattar.'
Freestyle-wrestling comedy that became the highest-grossing Saudi film of all time.
2022Dark comedy-thriller (Mandoob Al-Lail) directed by co-founder Ali Al Kalthami.
2023Anthology comedy released on Netflix, with a series follow-up in development.
2023Feature release expanding the studio's local box-office slate.
2024Comedy that beat Hollywood tentpoles Jurassic World Rebirth and F1 in Saudi cinemas.
2025How it differs from competitors. Regional players like MBC Studios or international originals from Netflix and Amazon can outspend Telfaz11. What they can't easily buy is a decade of learning what makes a Saudi audience laugh, built one YouTube video at a time. Telfaz11's advantage is cultural, not just financial - and that shows up at the ticket window.
Where it fits in the market. The company sits at the center of Saudi Arabia's post-2017 cinema revival, part of a broader push under the country's cultural and economic diversification plans. It is both a supplier of home-grown films and a bridge to global platforms, giving international partners a trusted local producer and Saudi talent a path to worldwide audiences.
Business model. Revenue comes from three sources: ad-supported and platform-partnered digital content; fees from branded productions through the Creative House; and premium content monetized via theatrical box office, streaming licensing (notably Netflix) and co-production financing with partners such as Muvi Studios.
Expertise. Comedy and character-driven storytelling rooted in Saudi identity, plus the operational muscle to finance, produce and distribute across YouTube, cinema and streaming. In 2025 the studio signaled its ambitions further, announcing plans to invest around $135M in Saudi film production.
The name combines the Arabic word for television, 'telfaz,' with '11' to mark the year the founders believed a new age of creative expression had begun.- On the origin of the name
Three founders launch a YouTube-first network for Saudi youth.
Shows like 'Khambalah' and 'Lutshps' grow the early digital audience.
Saudi Technology Ventures leads the round with VentureSouq as cinemas reopen.
Netflix signs the studio to develop and produce eight films.
Strengthens feature-film development and production capacity.
Becomes the highest-grossing Saudi film of all time.
Beats Hollywood tentpoles as Telfaz11 pledges ~$135M to Saudi film.
Interviews, channel content and film trailers from Telfaz11.