97% of internet users in Saudi Arabia prefer to use Arabic for web browsing on digital and social media platforms, making the Kingdom the focal point for the rapid growth in the demand and supply of Arabic digital content. Saudi Arabia is also one of the fastest growing countries in social media use, recently reaching 60% of the overall population.
The rapid growth of social media can be seen across platforms, and especially on Twitter, where Saudi Arabia 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% and reaching 1.9 million active accounts. These users tweet 50 million times per month, making up more than 47% of the total tweets in the MENA region. 90% of these tweets are in Arabic, making Saudi Arabia the largest contributor of Arabic content on Twitter.
YouTube is another platform witnessing major growth in Saudi Arabia, driven by increasing viewership and local content production. There are over 90 million YouTube views a day from Saudi Arabia, making the Kingdom the biggest consumer of YouTube content per capita in the world.
Half of these views are coming from mobile devices, driven by the high penetration of smartphones in the Kingdom, as Saudi Arabia is the number one country in the world with the highest proportion of mobile phone users, with ratio of 188%.
This tremendous demand for YouTube content has led to a flourishing of Saudi video production studios, including extremely popular channels like U-Turn, Sa7i and Telfaz11, who 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 December 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.
