High Internet activity over Ramadan period in Saudi Arabia, says Effective Measure

Effective Measure, a specialist in digital audience measurement in the emerging markets, released data showing unusually high Internet activity over the Ramadan period in Saudi Arabia, with up to 700,000 unique browsers seen daily between 12AM to 3AM mid-Ramadan.

Effective Measure Vice President of Digital Insights, Brendon Ogilvy, said, “While Saudi Arabia’s online population is the most active leading up to the pre-dawn meal of Suhoor, the rest of the region have shown a similar pattern of usage during Ramadan.”

Saudis Most Active Online During Suhoor

On 15 August 2011, the number of unique browsers in Saudi Arabia peaked between 3AM to 6AM, with the highest number of unique browsers for the day recorded at 4AM. During this time, a quarter of a million unique browsers accessed over 1.2 million pages within the hour.

After unusually high online activity in the hours leading up to Suhoor, Saudis start getting active again only from 8pm onwards.

In terms of content viewed during the peak period of 3AM to 6AM amongst Saudi residents, social network sites dominate along with local news websites and local content generated entertainment based portals.

Concentrated levels of mobile Internet is seen to follow immediately after heavy PC use on this day – between 4AM to 6AM, and 6PM to 8PM, up to 12% of the Kingdom’s online population were on mobile devices.

“This is however a typical pattern of mobile Internet usage, as the online consumer tends to swap Internet access from a PC to a mobile both first thing in the morning and during the dinnertime period. What is interesting is this pattern of mobile Internet usage continues during Ramadan – just at earlier and later times,” said Ogilvy.

“An understanding of seasonal trends such as Ramadan highlights the unique diversity of online communities and creates exciting opportunities for the digital industry. We wish all Muslims a great Ramadan,” said Ogilvy.

Effective Measure is an innovative Digital Audience Measurement and Research company providing agencies, advertisers and publishers invested in the digital marketplace with best practice market intelligence. Our Digital Helix methodology generates realistic representations of the online population in emerging markets including South East Asia, Middle East North Africa and South Africa.