Social Media Presence of Free-To-Air Satellite Channels in the Arab World

Social Media Presence of Free-to- Air Satellite Channels in the Arab World

Arab Advisors Group Media Strategic Research Service

July 2014

Analysts: Hiba Rabadi Joud Hazineh

This report has been delivered to AUS – UAE to be used exclusively by its students

Social Media Presence of Free-to-Air Satellite Channels in the Arab World

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Social Media Presence of Free-to-Air Satellite Channels in the Arab World

Table of Contents

Section I: Introduction ...... 1 Section II: An overview of the selected channels ...... 3 Section III: An overview of the selected channels’ presence on social media platforms ...... 6

Social Media Presence of Free-to-Air Satellite Channels in the Arab World

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1: Adoption of social media platforms by Internet users in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and Oman ...... 1 Exhibit 2: Usage of Facebook and Twitter in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and Oman ...... 2 Exhibit 3: Selected FTA channels’ details ...... 3 Exhibit 4: Selected FTA channels’ types ...... 4 Exhibit 5: Selected FTA channels’ languages ...... 5 Exhibit 6: The selected FTA channels’ presence on social media platforms ...... 7 Exhibit 7: Number of FTA channels with presence on social media platforms .... 8 Exhibit 8: Channels’ likes, followers and subscribers on the social media platforms ...... 10 Exhibit 9: Channels by number of Facebook likes ...... 11 Exhibit 10: Comparison for channels’ Facebook likes (June 2013, June 2014) . 12 Exhibit 11: Channels by number of Twitter followers ...... 13 Exhibit 12: Comparison for channels’ Twitter followers (June 2013, June 2014) ...... 14 Exhibit 13: Channels by number of YouTube channel subscribers ...... 15 Exhibit 14: Comparison for channels’ YouTube subscribers (June 2013, June 2014) ...... 16 Exhibit 15: Channels by number of Google+ circle subscribers ...... 17 Exhibit 16: Comparison for channels’ Google+ subscriptions (June 2013, June 2014) ...... 18 Exhibit 17: Channels by number of LinkedIn followers...... 19

Social Media Presence of Free-to-Air Satellite Channels in the Arab World

Section I: Introduction

The adoption of social media platforms is undergoing rapid growth in the Arab World. This growth is fuelled by the increasing Internet penetration across the region, spurred by high levels of competition among service providers. The introduction of new technologies that include mobile broadband (through 3G/3.5G or LTE) and FTTx also played a key role in the increasing Internet penetration.

The increasing adoption of social media in the region has encouraged Free-to-Air (FTA) satellite channels to take advantage of such platforms in order to extend their reach to viewers. Social media platforms provide the channels with means to advertise their programs, provide up to date news, and interact with their viewers. Successful usage of social media platforms can give FTA channels an edge over others, in light of the high level of competition in the satellite TV market.

Social media platforms analyzed in this report are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube. Exhibit 1 below provides details of Internet users’ social media adoption in Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq, and Egypt, based on surveys conducted by the Arab Advisors Group in the three countries. The percentages are based on Arab Advisors Group’s “Oman Internet users and e-commerce survey 2014”, “Saudi Arabia Internet users and e- commerce survey 2014” , “UAE Media Survey 2013”, ”Iraq Media Survey 2013” and “Egypt Media Survey 2013”.

Exhibit 1: Adoption of social media platforms by Internet users in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and Oman 100%

90% 83.8% 82.5% 79.7% 77.9% 80% 76.2%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% UAE Saudi Arabia Egypt Iraq Oman

Note: Percentages are calculated from the total Internet users. Source: Arab Advisors Group’s Oman Internet users and e-commerce survey 2014, Saudi Arabia Internet users and e-commerce survey 2014, UAE Media survey 2013, Iraq Media survey 2013 and Egypt Media survey 2013.

Social Media Presence of Free-to-Air Satellite Channels in the Arab World

Among the analyzed social media platforms in the Arab Advisors Group’s surveys, Facebook and Twitter are the most popular platforms. Exhibit 2 below illustrates the percentage of Internet users that use Facebook and Twitter in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and Oman, out of the total Internet users who socialize through the Internet.

Exhibit 2: Usage of Facebook and Twitter in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and Oman

100% Facebook Twitter

90% 80.8% 79.5% 80% 77.2% 69.6% 70% 68.0%

60% 51.1% 50% 40.2% 40% 33.6%

30% 26.8%

20% 12.4% 10%

0% UAE Egypt Iraq Saudi Arabia Oman

Note: Percentages are calculated from total Internet users. Source: Arab Advisors Group’s Oman Internet users and e-commerce survey 2014, Saudi Arabia Internet users and e-commerce survey 2014, UAE Media survey 2013, Iraq Media survey 2013 and Egypt Media survey 2013.

Forty FTA satellite TV channels were analyzed in this report. Channels were chosen by the Arab Advisors Group as a representative sample of the total FTA satellite TV market, based on the viewership extracted from surveys conducted by the Arab Advisors Group in a number of Arab countries. Social media presence of the selected channels was analyzed by late-June 2014.

Social Media Presence of Free-to-Air Satellite Channels in the Arab World

Section II: An overview of the selected channels

This report provides an overview of the social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube, for a total of 40 FTA satellite TV channels that broadcast in the Arab World by end of June 2014. The 40 channels were chosen by the Arab Advisors Group as a representative sample of the total satellite FTA market. The choice was based on Arab Advisors Group’s survey findings with respect to viewership.

The exhibit below lists the channels selected, in addition to their type, main language and country of headquarters.

Exhibit 3: Selected FTA channels’ details Country of Channel Channel type Main language headquarters Abu Dhabi Al Oula General Arabic UAE Abu Dhabi Sports Sports Arabic UAE News and current Al Arabiya Arabic UAE affairs News and current Al Jazeera Arabic Qatar affairs Al Jazeera Documentary Arabic Qatar Documentary News and current Al Jazeera English English Qatar affairs beIN sports Sports Arabic Qatar Al Nas Religious Arabic Egypt News and current BBC Arabic Arabic UK affairs News and current BBC World English UK affairs Cairo Cinema Movies and series Arabic Egypt News and current CNN International English USA affairs Dubai One General English UAE Dubai Sports Sports Arabic UAE Dubai TV General Arabic UAE Health, nutrition and Fatafeat Arabic/English UAE cooking Fox Movies and series Arabic/English Saudi Arabia Fox Movies Movies and series English Saudi Arabia News and current France 24 English English France affairs Hannibal TV General Arabic Tunisia Iqraa Religious Arabic Saudi Arabia Jordan TV General Arabic Jordan LBC General Arabic/English Lebanon Mazzika Music Arabic Egypt MBC 1 General Arabic UAE MBC 2 Movies and series English UAE MBC 3 Children and youth Arabic/English UAE MBC 4 Movies and series Arabic/English UAE MBC Action Movies and series Arabic/English UAE MBC Drama Movies and series Arabic UAE MBC MAX Movies and series English UAE

Social Media Presence of Free-to-Air Satellite Channels in the Arab World

Country of Channel Channel type Main language headquarters National Geographic Abu Documentary Arabic UAE Dhabi Nessma TV General Arabic Tunisia Panorama Drama Movies and series Arabic Egypt Rotana Cinema Movies and series Arabic Bahrain Rotana Khalijiah General Arabic Bahrain Rotana Music Music Arabic Bahrain Sama Dubai General Arabic UAE Saudi 1 General Arabic Saudi Arabia Zee Arabia Movies and series Arabic/Hindi UAE Source: FTA channels, Arab Advisors Group

The selected channels vary in the type of programming. Categories of the channels selected include: General channels, movies and series, news and current affairs, sports, documentary, music, religious, children and youth, in addition to health, nutrition and cooking. Exhibit 4 below shows the number of channels selected from each category.

Exhibit 4: Selected FTA channels’ types

Health, nutrition and cooking 1

Children and youth 1

Religious 2

Music 2

Documentary 2

Sports 3

News and current affairs 7

Movies and series 11

General 11

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Source: FTA channels, Arab Advisors Group

Social Media Presence of Free-to-Air Satellite Channels in the Arab World

The 40 selected channels broadcast in a variety of languages that cater to different viewers across the Arab World. The exhibit below provides details of the languages of the selected channels.

Exhibit 5: Selected FTA channels’ languages

English 20.0%

Arabic/Hindi 2.5%

Arabic 62.5% Arabic/English 15.0%

Source: FTA channels, Arab Advisors Group

Social Media Presence of Free-to-Air Satellite Channels in the Arab World

Section III: An overview of the selected channels’ presence on social media platforms

Satellite Free-to-Air channels have vastly adopted social media to extend their reach to viewers across the region. The high popularity of social media and video streaming platforms has encouraged satellite Free-to-Air channels in the region to use these platforms as an additional method of advertising, broadcast and interaction with their viewers. Exhibit 6 below lists the presence of the channels on the five social media platforms analyzed by end of June 2014.

Social Media Presence of Free-to-Air Satellite Channels in the Arab World

Exhibit 6: The selected FTA channels’ presence on social media platforms Channel Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn Google+ Abu Dhabi Al Oula √ √ √ √ √ Abu Dhabi Sports √ √ √ √ √ Al Arabiya √ √ √ √ √ Al Jazeera √ √ √ √ √ Al Jazeera Documentary √ √ √ √ √ Al Jazeera English √ √ √ √ √ Al Nas √ √ √ √ BBC Arabic