DOHA: Media professionals gathered at the Qatar Media Industries Forum — a biannual gathering of industry leaders hosted by Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) — to discuss findings of a first-of-its-kind survey on Entertainment Media Use in the Middle East.
Jointly overseen by NU-Q and Doha Film Institute, the media survey spanned six Arab nations; findings on Qatar specifically were in focus at the forum. One of the most outstanding trends revealed by the survey was that Qatari nationals are less than half as likely as nationals of other countries studied to use Facebook. The survey also revealed that Qatar is unique to other Arab countries in that its residents express a strong interest in news as a mode of entertainment.
“Through this forum, which continues to inform media experts across Qatar, we can start to see how these survey findings can be applied, said Dean and CEO of NU-Q Everette E. Dennis.
“While Facebook use is down, the use of other social media is high, signaling the likelihood that Qataris may prefer other platforms. Overall, differences in the data from Qatar signal the need for tradition and modernity as well as the continuing importance of newspapers and print.”
Efforts by Qatari newspapers to increase their social media presence have paid off among younger audiences, explained Sara Al Derham, an NU-Q graduate, who worked with the researchers to validate the Qatar results through her own interviews and qualitative analysis,
“People my age who are online follow Qatar’s dailies on social media for regular updates and headlines,” she said, adding that open access to PDF versions of the newspapers online provides a popular blend of electronic and traditional.
Al Derham also noted that Facebook in Qatar is facing heavy competition among her peers, who are more likely to use Instagram and Twitter. The survey also found that nearly half of Arabs watch American films, yet most want more regional content.
This rang particularly true in Qatar, which has the highest percentage of nationals who agree that more should be done to preserve cultural traditions (survey average: 78 percent/ Qatar: 94 percent) and the lowest percentage of nationals who watch TV produced in their own country (survey average: 94 percent Qatar: 51 percent).
The Peninsula
