In 2015, the population of the Arab world reached 375 million, of which 41.5 percent use the internet. Digital Arabic content stands at 3 percent of global content since 2015 with no growth since, according to several studies such as Digital Arabic Content: An industry brief, a report by the Wamda Research Lab.  

In addition, more than half of the population of the MENA region only speaks Arabic.

During a Mix N’ Mentor in 2015, Wamda met with Mohamad Najem, cofounder of Social Media Exchange (SMEX). His organization presents Arabic content on using digital and social media tools, as well as content around digital security.

Najem points out that most of available Arabic content is repetitive, copied and is not original content, despite evidence that specialized content “attracts people and encourages reading and writing in Arabic.”

He finds that some initiatives support Arabic, but that is not enough, as the market has a lot of opportunities to capitalize on, including companies and businesses who can benefit commercially from generating content in the region’s mother tongue.

As for the difficulties of the Arabic language when it comes to Western terms, Najem says the language’s vocabulary is rich in terms and information but technical and scientific terms must be consistent and agreed upon.