Why Saudis are world's biggest YouTube fans

[Solomon2]

March 21 2014 | Last updated 1 minute ago

gulfnews.com

Why Saudis are world's biggest YouTube fans
People in Saudi Arabia watch more hours of YouTube content per capita than anywhere else in the world

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  • Image Credit: REUTERS
  • Saudi Arabian men play video games and surf the net at a guest house in the city of Tabuk. The Middle East has one of the fastest growing communities of online gamers in the world, and demographics mean this is likely to remain true for many years.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Dubai: Google has launched a campaign to develop online videos in the fast-growing market of Saudi Arabia, where residents watch more hours of YouTube content per capita than anywhere else in the world.
  
  Over the past year, time spent on YouTube in the conservative kingdom has increased fivefold, persuading Google to hold a seminar in the oil-rich kingdom to foster closer relationships with producers of Arabic-language web videos.
  
  About 60 per cent of the 350 million people in the Arab world are younger than 25, with internet penetration in the region at about 70 million users — over 300 per cent growth in the last five years, according to numbers from UAE-based entrepreneurship research portal Sindibad Business. Internet penetration is expected to reach 150 million users by 2015.
  
  Traditional media in Saudi Arabia, where more than half the population is younger than 35, is failing to engage youngsters who are turning to the internet for relevant drama, comedy, sports and news.
  
  The same trend is sweeping the broader region, where 310m video views a day make the Middle East and north Africa the world’s second-highest online viewership after the US.
  
  That has generated concern among some of the region’s states about the rise in political expression.
  
  Google, which works closely with Gulf governments, says the company’s policy is to restrict access to videos in countries where it has been notified of a valid legal complaint.
  
  “Freedom of expression is a key principle, but we need to find a balance in countries where we have launched,” says Mohammad Mourad, Google’s regional manager.
  
  But there have not been many requests for the removal of material from YouTube in Saudi Arabia. He adds: “It isn’t an issue.”
  
  While the region’s advertisers have been slow to embrace digital advertising, Google nonetheless hopes to lure both traditional advertisers and smaller businesses online.
  
  The company this month sent several executives to the capital to speak to 450 content creators about its policies, creating videos, and intellectual property.
  
  Last year, Google introduced a scheme to eight regional countries allowing partners to earn more money. Thousands of channels are already earning “six figures annually”.
  
  One such entrepreneur is Kaswara Al Khatib, chairman of UTURN, the largest online network operating in the Middle East, with 43 per cent of its viewers under the age of 18.
  
  Set up in 2010, the multichannel network produces its own content, commissions programmes, and aggregates third-party videos from comedy to religion.
  
  Product placement and branded content accounts for 80 per cent of the company’s revenues, which are doubling every year.
  
  UTURN is looking to bring in an equity partner, as it seeks to boost its 35m hours per month view time to 100m over the next year.
  
  Their debut production, a political satire about life in Saudi Arabia, became a viral hit.
  
  Since then, other dramas have been joined by a Daily Show-style satirical programme, a women’s show, hip-hop comedy sketches, and an influential religious cleric banned from mainstream TV.
  
  Khatib says values of “honesty, harmony and halal” — or permitted in Islamic culture — keep the network out of trouble.
  
  “We are part of this community and want to prosper,” he says. “We just want to highlight issues in a different way.”
  
  [h/t: Crossroads Arabia]