Saudi Gazette

 

Initiative KSA hosted a second edition of talks at the Alaan Art Gallery in Riyadh this year. The platform encouraged youth participation, but mainly saw the social media influencers lead the conversation about the growth of video usage in the region.

 

Faysal Zok, Managing Director of Initiative KSA, told Saudi Gazette that mobiles continue to provide the tools for people to further consume video content on the go. “Actually, last July, the initiative conducted a research study on Millennials, titled: ‘The Reset Generation,’ this poll talked to 10,000 adults between the ages of 25-34 from around the world, including Saudi Arabia.” The findings proved that mobile was a game-changer for video consumption. “Mobile penetration across the Middle East is on par with the global story, with KSA top in the region at 83%, but it’s not what you have, it’s what you do with it that counts and Millennials in the Middle East are doing a lot with their mobile devices to change the media scene. When we look at the intensity of their relationship with their devices, 60% of Millennials across the region say they are addicted; a figure that is significantly higher than the global average that stands at 44%.

 

And what is feeding their addiction? Video.”

 

Initiative aims to build conversations on content and video, while bringing big players to discuss key aspects. Content distributers from Google, Facebook, DMS and Sa7i joined forces on the animated panel discussion.

 

“We live in a world of partial attention. We text and eat, walk and call, watch TV and tweet. Our day is still one that is 24 hours long, yet, we’re cramming more and more media exposure into those hours, with our activity driven by the increasing mobility of devices.

 

Usually more media time is a good thing, but the reality is that the competition these days is twice as hot. We’re competing with content as well as advertising and we’re attempting to catch partial attention as opposed to full attention,”  Zok added.

 

This means that short form, simple communication has become the norm. According to Initiative, Twitter and Facebook are key players in the multi-tasking game and both have learned that shorter posts are always better.

So how can you create better content? “We’ve pinned three things that will help you use data to create better content. Know what content works. The first thing you can do is test different creative concepts to small social groups. Test for engagement and virality and take the best performing work above the line. Know what they’re going to share: use data to understand their multi-screen consumption patterns.

 

And know what tools to use to reach them: incorporate smart tools to plan and sync TV and online communication in order to allow your brand tell a story.” He said the future of planning rests on our ability to identify moments where we can make the biggest impression. “To have a dialogue with people, we need to stop trying to sell them something as consumers and instead engage with them as people, empathizing and sharing a point of view in a shared cultural context.”

 

Saudi Arabia has almost 19.6 million Internet users and 53 million mobile phone accounts.