UAE users keeping glued to YouTube

YouTube users in the UAE are among the most active, according to a new report from Google.

About 46 per cent of YouTube users in the Emirates accessed the site daily. Nicholas Kamm / AFP

Google survey of YouTube users found that those in the UAE were among the most active.

About 46 per cent of YouTube users in the Emirates accessed the site daily, reflecting the highest penetration rate in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.

YouTube was regarded as the main destination for product information and for "staying up to date".

The country ranks ahead of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where 44 per cent of the users access YouTube every day.

In a sample of 600 people in the UAE aged 15 and older, the results reveal that the average user was 33 years old and male. Just 34 per cent of users were women.

More than two thirds of UAE users watched videos on their smartphones, one of the highest rates in the world. Saudi Arabia holds the top spot for the highest number of video playbacks on mobile phones.

Light television users in the UAE watched 2.2 hours of TV a week and 6.8 hours of video on YouTube.

"The boundary between TV and video will fade," said Mohamad Mourad, Google's Arabian Gulf region manager.

Every day, 260 million videos are watched on YouTube across the Mena region, up from 167 million last year. The access rate puts the region in the number two spot, behind the United States and ahead of Brazil.