Below are the key findings from this study, which are explored in detail in the chapters that follow. Results are based on 7,382 telephone survey of respondents across seven Arab countries: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates. Data were collected between December 27, 2021, and April 29, 2022.
The emergence of influencers
2021-2022 saw the emergence of a new actor as influencing consumer choice regarding entertainment content: Social media influencers. Whilst the period 2014-2018 saw a steady increase in the level of influence of social media platforms on consumer choice, which made this category the most influential, the spread of 2021-2022 is significant different to that of previous years, with a significant decline in influence by advertisers, user reviews and professional reviews. This is the first time that social media (combining platform at 51% and influencers at 31%) almost equals the other three categories combined (82% vs 101%). 2021-2022 also recorded different kinds of interactions with social media influencers, being “follow, like or share updates” the form of interaction that experienced the biggest increase (29% to 43%).
Selective freedom of expression
Results from this year’s survey have shown a significant change in opinion opposing freedom of expression, as compared with previous years. When asked, whether people should be free to criticize governments on the internet, we saw a significant decrease (9 percentage points) in support for this statement in the period 2018 - 2022 (with 52% supporting the statement in 2018, 55% in 2019 and 46% in 2021-2022). Views that opposed the statement remained equal (at 18% between 2018 and 2019) but experienced a marked increase on 2021-2022 at 31% (with an increase of 13 percentage points). This change in opinion seems to relate to criticising governments online only, considering that when asked whether it was OK to express ideas online, 2021-2022 saw a marked increase in support for the statement with 10 percentage points (48% in 2019 and 58% in 2021-2022).
Streaming services are the big winners
Post-pandemic times saw the steady growth and consolidation of existing streaming platforms like Netflix (with a noteworthy increase of 21 percentage points in consumption), Shahid and Anghami. The 2019-2022 period also saw the emergence of new streaming platforms such as Bein and OSN (being the former the most interesting case of adoption with 13% probably due to its sports packages). Although not necessarily a streaming service in the traditional sense, IGTV also grew considerably as a platform to consume video content, with an increase of 7%. Payment for the consumption of online entertainment also became normalised and standardise as a wide practice, and participants feel conformable paying for streaming service showing a clear increase from 2016 (12%), to 2018 (22%), to 2021-2022 (39%). Films are the preferred option when it comes to paying for online entertainment content, representing a surprising increase in the surveyed time-period with 4% in 2016; 6% in 2018, and 22% in 2021-2022. Sports content followed a similar pattern, with 4% in 2016; 8% in 2018, and 14% in 2021-2022. TV series, music and video games followed less pronounced increases, as opposed to news, which did not show an increase at 4%.
Online disengagement
This year’s survey showed a clear decrease in engagement when commenting, sharing, or sending online content. All the surveyed kinds of contents (News, music, sports, films, and TV series) experienced a drop (of 9 percentage points in the case of music and 6 percentage points for TV series) in content dissemination and engagement, with the exception of social media influencers content, which increased in engagement by 13%. This, together with their increase in influence on consumer choice, evidence the way in which media influence, and subsequent engagement, is shifting away from advertisers and reviewers, and the way in which social media influencers are rapidly gaining terrain and consolidating themselves as key actors in the realm of media entertainment.
TikTok steps in after the pandemic
Overall social media consumption experienced a small increase in most cases, with Facebook messenger and twitter being the two main platforms showing a slight decrease in consumption. Surprisingly, snapchat, one of the few social media platforms that has shown a clear decrease in use globally, grew in the Arab region by 5 percentage points. Without a doubt the most interesting finding in this year’s survey was the emergence and solid consolidation of TikTok as a key player in the market, positioning itself at 39% of adoption. Whilst twitter is mostly associated with the consumption of news, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram are mostly used to access photos, images and videos. These two latter platforms are also the preferred one to access content produced by social media influencers, followed closely by twitter.
The global pandemic and its tectonic shifts
There is no doubt the COVID-19 world pandemic and the multiple lockdowns implemented as safety measure by the different Arab governments had a significant impact on the results of this study. A pronounced move to online activities and the subsequent mediation of online platforms has been the predominant trend throughout our analysis, with streaming platforms overtaking conventional TV and cinema consumption, gaming transitioning to mobile platforms, social media influencers overtaking what in the past were more authoritative actors in the negotiation of consumer choice and the production of knowledge. This period of lockdown has acted as an amplifying factor in the consolidation of ubiquitous consumption, with binge watching as one of the most pervasive practices. Individualisation has increased even more, as users prefer mobile platforms to watch content, engage in social media, and play games.