Ramadan gives Arabic content a boost, but can it hold?

In the race to populate the internet with Arabic content, each year Ramadan presents a unique opportunity to measure how quickly internet culture is developing in the Arab world – and for digital entrepreneurs to calibrate how best to benefit from it. More people in the Middle East and North Africa are online during this month than any other time of the year, and increasingly people are choosing their mobile devices over computers for their daily fix.

Entrepreneurs across the region, in all sectors, are responding to the demand: content producers ramp up their rates of production during this period, defying the stereotype of a restful month for lavish nighttime meals and catching up with family.

To develop the Arabic presence on the internet, writes Gabriel Deek, the author of a recent UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) study, concerted efforts should “include providing incentives to content producers in order to create good quality, original content in Arabic, something unique and new that does not exist in any other language.” Spikes in readership during Ramadan, and the increased earning potential they unlock, might well be part of these incentives.

Internet culture in the region is developing rapidly. 40% of people in the region regularly use the internet – higher than global averages – and smartphone penetration continues to skyrocket (the UAE and Saudi Arabia are the countries with the #1 and #3 highest rates in the world). People are increasingly turning online for information of all kinds, for advice, and to play.

During Ramadan, with shorter working hours and a greater need for distraction during the hot, hungry daytime hours, they’re drawn even more to their devices. With each passing year, there are millions more smartphones in the region, which to content producers, can equal millions of more opportunities to develop a readership.

Amira Azzouz, founder and editor-in-chief of Egyptian women’s lifestyle siteFustany, overhauled her team’s Ramadan content customization after a talk by Zafer Younes from regional social media agency The Online Project at last year’s ArabNet conference.

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Ramadan gives Arabic content a boost, but can it hold?