RIYADH: One-third of Saudi residents would rather watch local Arabic television content than international programs, a new survey has revealed.
And viewers in the Kingdom also wanted quality content, not just Arabized versions of other countries’ material, the study by global management consultancy Kearney found.
Head of communications, media, and technology at Kearney Middle East, Adel Belcaid, said: “Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s youngest and most digitally attuned major markets with the population consuming vast terabytes of video, audio, and gaming content.
“The youth has not only been using various platforms for visual self-expression and storytelling, but also to bolster the cultural identity of the nation, which has been incredibly empowering.”
Of those questioned for the survey, 33 percent said they would like to see more localized, Arabic content on TV and other media platforms, and that they would be willing to pay for it, while 63 percent admitted they would pay a premium for such content, and 25 percent an additional fee to avoid seeing advertisements.
FASTFACTS
33 percent of Saudi residents prefer local Arabic TV content to international content.
63 percent are willing to pay a premium for such content.
25 percent are willing to pay a fee to avoid ads on media platforms.
42 percent are more willing to pay for high-quality video-on-demand or streaming content.
Online video content consumption has been rapidly growing, a trend accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic and, according to video production company Wyzowl, 96 percent of users globally increased their online video consumption last year — doubling it from 2018.
Kearney’s study showed that the trend was very much true for residents of Saudi Arabia going into 2022. Not only were they consuming more, but they were also willing to pay more.
A total of 42 percent of Saudi residents quizzed expressed a greater interest in paying for high-quality video-on-demand or streaming content, compared with other channels such as social media (37 percent), TV (32 percent), gaming websites (32 percent), online news portals (22 percent), print news publications (19 percent), podcasts (19 percent), and radio (17 percent).
Head of communications, media, and technology at Kearney Middle East, Adel Belcaid. (Supplied)
That was found to be especially true for younger audiences, with respondents aged between 18 and 34 more likely to pay for quality content than those aged 35 and over, particularly on newer channels such as video-on-demand (96 percent) compared to more traditional channels including newspapers and magazines (37 percent).
“Under these favorable demographics and the directives of Vision 2030, the Kingdom stands to become one of largest content hubs.
“There is a huge opportunity to unleash the full potential of the media sector, by boosting local content development, upgrading talent and infrastructure, and enhancing regulation and governance framework,” Belcaid added.
