Global Media Intelligence 2019: Saudi Arabia

Key Features

Survey data for Saudi Arabia amply confirms the device habits of a population largely dominated by affluent males.

• Smartphone penetration was way ahead of PC penetration in Saudi Arabia in H1 2018, according to GlobalWebIndex. That pattern persisted in 2019, when 98.9% of internet users ages 16 to 64 owned a smartphone, and 55.1% owned a desktop or laptop. Penetration of both had risen year over year.
• Close to one-third (32.7%) of respondents owned a tablet, with females and those living in urban areas more likely to use that device. Penetration was also far higher among respondents in the top 10% of homes, ranked by income, at 57.2%.
• The level of smart TV ownership was virtually identical to that of tablets in H1 2019, at 32.9%. Like tablets, smart TVs were also found more often in affluent households.
• Smartwatches have taken off in Saudi Arabia to some extent since last year, when penetration was below 10%. As of 2019, over 14% of internet users polled owned a smartwatch; predictably, that share was higher among younger respondents, city dwellers and the most affluent. (Of the internet users in the top 10% of households, ranked by income, 30.9% owned a smartwatch.)
• Perhaps surprisingly, just 7.4% of internet users polled owned a smart-home product—though ownership reached double digits among internet users in affluent households.