DUBAI: Brands looking to advertise during Ramadan should tap into the MENA region’s surging mobile gaming market, two Google managers have told Arab News.
In 2021, there were more than 65 million gamers in the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. That number is expected to reach 85 million by 2025.
People in the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia love playing mobile games and 65 percent of them in each country spend more than four hours on their mobile devices per day. In fact, Almost 70 percent or more in these countries are mobile gamers.
Audiences in the MENA region not only like playing games, but also watching others play. In the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, people watched more YouTube Gaming videos than ever in 2021.
The increase in games and gaming content, combined with past Google research that shows audiences turn to gaming for entertainment during Ramadan, provides new opportunities for brands looking to advertise during the holy month.
“This new take on how Ramadan might manifest in gaming videos goes a long way in terms of shifting perception on real-life moments that can be viewed in a more immersive arena, and be digitally reenacted in a virtual space like YouTube,” Abdu Hussein, culture and trends manager at Google MENA, told Arab News.
There is a sense of community that exists among online gamers, and this is amplified during Ramadan. In 2020, for example, two Egyptian gamers, Solom and Boombo, prepared iftar and broke their fast together in the virtual world of Minecraft. But it was more than the two of them — they were joined by their 2 million viewers.
Minecraft now features a dedicated gaming format for Ramadan called Ramadan Craft. Creators start daily Minecraft adventures in the holy month, often exploring the in-game world alongside fans. Uploads of Minecraft-related videos with the Arabic form of “Ramadan” in the title more than doubled in 2021 compared to the previous year.
Contrary to popular belief, gaming is not as male-dominated as it once was. Last year, more than one-third of gamers in the MENA region were women. For instance, Saudi-based creator gamer and creator Meshael MR has more than 400,000 subscribers on YouTube since joining the platform in 2019.
“We’re seeing more women in MENA sharing their online gaming experience on YouTube, especially in Saudi Arabia,” Maha Nizam, product marketing manager at Google MENA, told Arab News. “They come together during Ramadan to connect and learn from each other, and this is very powerful.”
Hussein and Nizam advised brands to reflect diversity in their content by including women in their creative identities. They added that as brands prepare to step into the world of gaming content, using cultural references and familiar settings from the real world, or a specific gaming universe, can make branded content more relatable.
