A picture taken on October 23, 2024 shows the screen of a blackberry phone featuring the logo of micro-blogging site Twitter. AFP/ Getty/ Fred Tanneau
Social media and technology companies’ overseas expansion plans often point to China. But a look at the statistics of mobile use in North Africa and the Middle East after Twitter announced its launch mobile advertising in those areas, suggests another overlooked region.
Other than the decline of advertising in the U.S., there are several good reasons for companies to focus on the growth of advertising in the Middle East. One is the growth of the youth population. According to the Arab Thought Foundation more than two thirds of the population in the Middle East and North Africa is under the age of 25. The Middle East had 250 million mobile subscribers in 2012 according to Informa Media and Telecoms. And that is just the beginning. Research by Cisco predicted the Middle East and Africa to have the highest growth rate (129% compound annual growth rate) among all countries in mobile data traffic growth in the years 2010 and 2015. Since mobile advertising is the new area of development in the U.S., now would be the right time to expand that strategy to other markets.
Mobile and smartphone usage in Middle Eastern countries, especially in United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia is among the highest, with 60 to 80% of all mobile users owning a smartphone (compared to 44% in the U.S). The rates of mobile ownership and usage are higher than they were for PCs.
Users in these countries and others in the region are less desensitized to advertisements than people in the U.S. and Europe. Studies show they are easier to engage than users in the U.S. and Europe. Perhaps because the advertising industry is relatively recent in those regions, and users have not been bombarded with billboards and television advertisements since birth as Americans have. Mobile shopping is higher in Middle Eastern countries as well. Forty-one percent of smartphone users in Egypt have and 39% of smartphone users in the UAE have used their phone to make a purchase, compared to 35% of Americans.
The 250 million of mobile users pales in comparison to China, whose has more than a billion mobile and approximately 400 million mobile web users. But other factors such as wealth of users and receptiveness to advertising determine success when choosing a market to launch in, as do sheer numbers.
