Infographic! Saudi Arabian Internet Behaviour

The GlobalWebIndex is proud to publish a new infographic illustrating the Saudi Arabian internet market in depth after launching the GlobalWebIndex in the country in June 2011.

Saudi Arabia Infographic

Here are the highlights:

Saudi Arabia has close to 9 million internet users, most of which are young, well-educated, and male.

VOIP (Voice over IP) services such as Skype or Fring are particularly popular among Saudi Internet users. The same applies to instant messaging services such as MSN Messenger and webmail services such as Gmail and Hotmail. The relatively high usage of online communication in Saudi Arabia is not at all surprising when one considers the amount of foreign nationals living in Saudi Arabia, which are estimated to account for nearly 25% of the Saudi Arabian population.

Penetrations of video sharing, social networking, micro-blogging and forum usage in Saudi Arabia are all higher than the global average. The most striking feature of social media in Saudi Arabia is the high-proportion of Internet users that upload videos online which is more than twice the global average. Social media platforms are particularly popular among young Saudi Arabians because they offer a sense of community and interaction that allows a high degree of freedom of expression. Despite the political effects of social media that are making headlines, the majority of young Saudis simply want to discuss the same types of things as other young people around the world from sports to pop culture to fashion.