Nurflix TV, a hub for sharia-compliant Islamic shows, wants to be a key player in Malaysia’s streaming platform ecosystem. Launched in July 2020, it aims to provide content that adheres to Islamic values for audiences in the Muslim-majority country.
Nurflix (a portmanteau of nur, the Arabic word for light, and Netflix), was created to fill a gap in streaming services through safe and “culturally responsible” content, said Syah Rizal Mohamed, the company’s chief executive officer. Its tagline, “sopan stream,” translates to “polite stream.”
Nurflix’s content includes animated and drama series on Muslim prophets and sermons. With only 40,000 subscribers, the platform is small compared to Netflix and Disney+, which lead Malaysia’s streaming market. But the company’s executives believe it fills an important niche.
“Islamic media and its discipline for the Muslim community were cornered, and we needed to do something about it,” Syah told Rest of World. He said the Nurflix team consulted Islamic scholars; producers from multiple countries, including Turkey and Indonesia; and media practitioners to choose its shows and create original content.
“We set up the base in the United Kingdom and provided a central translation unit to translate content to English before localizing it into languages like Malay,” Syah said. “Our dream is to ensure all content can be translated into the different languages across Southeast Asia.”
Content on Nurflix is currently dubbed in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Mandarin, Tamil, and English.
Syah said the company plans to use AI to translate its shows into more languages: “We aim to launch catalogs of content and stories according to Islamic teachings on the platform by 2025, with plans to release our feature film next year in eight languages, including Russian, French, and many more.”