New research from PayPal and SuperData shows the UAE leads the way in smartphone consumption for digital gaming, movie/TV streaming, music and eBooks 

• The UAE is a nation of smartphone users with the highest incidence of ebook consumption on smartphone with 77 percent of consumers preferring smartphone to dedicated eReaders, and the highest average spending on mobile games
• UAE consumers are some of the quickest purchasers of music and movies/TV shows, on average purchasing within 5 days of release
• Niche music platforms provide a strong opportunity, with Hindi music streaming platform Saavn showing as the third most-preferred platform after Google Play Music and Apple iTunes. Middle East music streaming platform Anghami also proves popular, beating Deezer

DUBAI, UAE. – March 26, 2017:  PayPal today released the results of its Digital Goods Survey, which looks at the attitudes, habits and behaviors of digital media consumers in the UAE across the digital gaming (including gaming video content) movie/TV streaming, music and eBook industries.

“Our research insights help merchants of all sizes better understand how consumers are spending their time and money with digital goods, enabling them to cater to this growing audience,” said Kivanc Onan, Regional Senior Director, PayPal Middle-East and North Africa . 

“We know that the UAE has incredibly high smartphone penetration, which affects how residents in the UAE consume digital media. We also know that there is a high incidence of cross-border purchasing in the UAE, with customers often choosing to purchase from the US and China. As a digital payments leader, PayPal is committed to enabling consumers to pay quickly and securely from almost any device with fewer screens and fewer clicks so they can start enjoying their digital content immediately.”

The survey builds on PayPal’s cross-border trade consumer insights program and reveals new data on the consumption and purchases of digital goods or intangible items.

Key findings from the UAE research include:

The smartphone rules in the UAE
With some of the highest levels of smartphone penetration globally, it is unsurprising that the smartphone is the device of choice for the consumption of digital goods in the UAE.

77 percent of eBook consumers surveyed choose non-dedicated devices, instead preferring to read on their smartphones. This is by far the highest of all other countries surveyed – Russia, the second highest market for using smartphones to consume eBooks had just over 50% of respondents using smartphones for reading.

The trend in the UAE for consuming digital goods via smartphone continues across all other verticals, with 74 percent of video content consumers that responded preferring to watch movies and TV on their phones, and 93 percent of music streaming and downloads done via smartphone. 

Even gamers in the UAE prefer convenience and gaming-on-the-go over high-fidelity graphics, with 81 percent choosing to play on smartphones rather than console or PC/laptop.

Music and movies becoming the new impulse buy for the UAE
UAE consumers are amongst the fastest purchasers of music and Movies/TV shows, on average purchasing within 5 days of release, as the availability of sites such as Netflix feed the desire to keep up to date with the latest international releases.

Movies/TV are the most popular vertical for purchases in the UAE, with 70% of respondents having made a purchase in the last 3 months. Music was the second most popular purchase, with just over 50% of respondents having purchased a download or music streaming service.

Niche streaming platforms are also popular in the UAE, with Hindi music streaming service Saavn polling as the third most popular platform after Google Play Music and Apple iTunes. While it only holds 9 percent of preference, it provides a catalogue that is mostly unavailable on other platforms, creating opportunities for merchants to provide niche services.

The bedroom has become the hub for UAE video game consumption.
The bedroom has become the new gaming hub of the UAE, with 86 percent of UAE respondents indicating that they had played video games in the bedroom in the past three months – overtaking the living room at 80 percent.

The UAE reflects a global trend for consuming digital media in the bedroom, with the U.S. ranked second behind the UAE (83 percent) in terms of mobile games played in the bedroom, followed by European countries including Spain (76 percent), France (73 percent), Italy (69 percent), and the UK (68 percent).

Understanding the captive audience that merchants have when consumers are in the bedroom (likely before they go to sleep), highlights the unique opportunity for merchants to leverage in-session advertising before consumers go to sleep.

There is a significant amount of “gaming on the job”.
While the bedroom is a strong hub of gaming activity, many UAE respondents indicated that the office was also popular place for gaming activity. Mobile ranked highest in terms of gaming type, with 34 percent of UAE respondents indicating that they had played mobile games at the office within the last three months. 

The highest ranked countries for gaming on the job were the UAE for mobile games (34 percent), Russia for PC games (24 percent), and France for console games (11 percent). 

For companies who closely monitor employee Internet usage, creating policies surrounding office gaming may be a consideration. Additionally, for other firms looking to create office team bonding activity, gaming may become an ideal vehicle for group activities.  

Ease of use and convenience drive payment method selection 
PayPal’s compatibility with most popular sites makes it a choice payment for around 24% of media consumers in the UAE, and it the most popular for purchasing eBooks (31%) and Music (27%). 

MasterCard was cited as the payment method used the most in the last three months by UAE respondents to purchase digital video game downloads or in-game content for their PC/Mac or laptop, as well as to purchase TV/movies.

Security concerns also drove payment method choice, especially across the gaming vertical, with 50 percent of respondents in the UAE who had purchased a game in the last three months listing “most secure payment method” as a reason for their choice.