Dubai: Google urged brands that are looking for spaces to advertise during Ramadan to tap into the MENA region as it finds more people in the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia are turning to gaming during the holy month.
The tech giant says that People in the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia are very fond of playing mobile games and gamers number, which is 65 million in 20121, is expected to increase to 85 million by 2025.
It is not just playing games in the MENA region, people also visit the region to watch playing games, and it is reported that people watched more YouTube Gaming videos than ever in 2021.
Arab News quoted Abdu Hussein, culture and trends manager at Google MENA as saying that "This new take on how Ramadan might manifest in gaming videos goes a long way in terms of shifting perception on real-life moments that can be viewed in a more immersive arena, and be digitally re-enacted in a virtual space like YouTube,"
Contrary to popular belief, gaming is not as male-dominated as it once was. Last year, more than one-third of gamers in the MENA region were women. For instance, Saudi-based creator gamer and creator Meshael MR has more than 400,000 subscribers on YouTube since joining the platform in 2019.
The participation of women in the online gaming is also not low as compared to men gamers in the MENA region. Arab News reports that one-third of gamers in 2021, were women in the MENA region.