Audience data for around 5m UAE-based TV viewers updated daily on index.mena.tv platform while KSA gears up for audience date with Nielson.
Mena.tv offered a glimpse into the latest television audience figures for more than 5m viewers across the UAE at CABSAT 2022.
Presenting the new platform, which is updated daily and accessible at index.mena.tv, Tassabih Hassan from ChannelSculptor provided a glimpse of the data available, including a breakdown of how people are watching TV in the UAE. Offering data for the country’s TV viewership, she said 43% use TV and streaming, with 10PM being peak viewing time, the most popular genre of TV show being comedy although crime is on the rise, and the most-watched TV channels and shows during Ramadan across various key markets.
“What we saw in Ramadan was an 80% increase in the total viewing hours by an Arab audience, of which Gulf Arabs remain the core,” said Hassan. “Looking deeper into the daily average minute-by-minute viewings, not only have those numbers almost doubled, but the audience has also surged by almost five times at prime time when compared to average viewing hours across the year.”
CABSAT lifts the curtain on Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning broadcast industry
On the final morning of the three-day event at Dubai World Trade Centre, CABSAT also heard about the progress of the new TV audience measurement platform that Saudi Arabia had launched a few months ago. The Media Rating Company and data specialists Nielsen will start by looking at satellite and OTT, with the aim of expanding into gaming, podcasts, radio, and print.
“What we are building as a TV and video measurement solution in Saudi Arabia is truly unique; the only other country in the world who are doing anything similar is Denmark,” said Sarah Messer, Managing Director, Nielsen Media MENAP. “We are bringing the latest in metering technology by the way of nano people meters, a device that is integrated to TV that gives us a constant, second-by-second feed of viewing activity on every TV set. It’s a simple design, but what is very exciting is the introduction of a streaming meter that will take our measurements into a realm that other countries are trying to catch up to. Not only are we measuring linear TV viewing, but the streaming meter gives us insight on streamed content.”
Saudi Arabia’s media sector is valued at US $4.4bn, positioning the country as the market leader in the Arab world in terms of media consumption. Followed by the UAE, which is worth roughly US$2.7bn, the Kingdom’s ever-growing content consumption is aligned with four key factors, said Hadi Hammoud, a partner at AT Kearney: prominently developing technology, content hungry consumers, being at the forefront of content consumption, and the provision of good quality local content.
“Vision 2030 has played a role in enabling the media, which can help realise Vision 2030 by increasing the entertainment options, especially in terms of diversity and help protect national heritage by increasing locally produced content,” he said. “The ability of the media to highlight the country’s achievements, as well as the work being put behind Vision 2030, will help alleviate the image of the Kingdom.”
