Saeed Al-Khotani
RIYADH — Around 97 percent of Internet users in the Kingdom prefer to use Arabic for web browsing on digital and social media platforms, making the Kingdom the focal point for rapid growth in the demand and supply of Arabic digital content.
The Kingdom is also one of the fastest growing countries in social media use, recently reaching 60 percent of the overall population.
The rapid growth of social media can be seen across platforms and especially on Twitter, where the Kingdom accounts for more than half of the region’s active users.
The Kingdom added more than 1 million Twitter users last year, representing a massive growth of 128 percent and reaching 1.9 million active accounts.
These users tweet 50 million times per month, accounting for more than 47 percent of total tweets in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Ninety percent of these tweets were in Arabic, making the Kingdom the largest contributor of Arabic content on Twitter.
YouTube is another platform witnessing major growth in the Kingdom, driven by increasing viewership and local content production.
There are over 90 million YouTube views a day in Kingdom, making the Kingdom the biggest consumer of YouTube content per capita in the world.
Half of these views come from mobile devices, driven by the high penetration of smartphones in the Kingdom, considered the number one country in the world with the highest proportion of mobile phone users, a ratio of 188 percent.
The demand for YouTube content has led to a flourishing of Saudi video production studios, including extremely popular channels like U-Turn, Sa7i and Telfaz11, which have developed a loyal following of fans.
Digital Arabic content will be one of the main themes addressed at ArabNet Riyadh 2013 Forum, the largest gathering of digital professionals and entrepreneurs in the Kingdom, taking place on Dec. 3-4.
The second edition of the forum will bring together more than 80 expert speakers and 800 attendees to discuss the rise of digital Arabic content and to showcase the latest digital trends and opportunities in the Arab region.
