Noteworthy in 2021

For the first time, internet users in UAE spent longer with digital video than with live TV. But social media claimed more time than both combined.

• Digital video has now clearly surpassed the reach of live TV in UAE. Fully 95.4% of internet users ages 16 to 64 surveyed in H1 2021 had streamed video in the prior month, while 86.1% had watched live TV. The average daily time spent with digital video content (1 hour, 33 minutes, or 1:33) was also marginally greater than time spent with broadcast TV (1:29).
• That said, a growing number of internet users watched TV shows via time-shifted options. Nearly 73% of respondents had used TV broadcasters’ catch-up or on-demand services in the previous month, and almost 70% had recorded TV programs to view later.
• Consumption of paid-for video also jumped year over year (YoY). More than three-quarters (78.0%) of respondents had watched films, TV programs, or other video content via subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services like Netflix.
• Social networks and messaging services can hardly expand their audiences further in UAE, as uptake is near full saturation. Fully 99.2% of those polled in H1 2021 had used at least one of 37 named social platforms in the prior month, and 98.5% had used messaging services, spending a daily average of 3:16 on those combined activities. It should be noted that GWI no longer includes YouTube in its social category.