One in three UAE residents spends over three hours a day consuming media — report
ISIDORA CIRIC (ABU DHABI)One in three UAE residents now spends more than three hours a day consuming media, with streaming video and social platforms driving the longest engagement, according to the latest YouGov survey.YouGov's 2025 State of the UAE's Media Consumption report, published on Thursday, shows that daily exposure to various forms of media — TV, radio, social platforms, and podcasts — is not only increasing in volume but diversifying in form. One in three UAE residents consumes media for over three hours, and one in seven for over five hours daily.Older residents are slightly more likely to consume over an hour of media daily, with 78% of those aged 35 and above doing so on a typical weekday.Live TV continues to hold ground, with 22% of viewers spending more than three hours a day watching traditional broadcasts. But the generational divide is also visible in platform preference: older residents continue to lean towards traditional viewing, while younger viewers are more likely to use streaming services. Netflix is the most-used platform for on-demand TV in the UAE (72%), followed by Amazon Prime Video (46%), Disney+ (27%), Apple TV+ (20%), and Paramount+ (9%). Spotify tops the list of music streaming services (45%), followed by Amazon Music (25%), and Apple Music (22%).Radio maintains a broad but shallow footprint — three in four listeners (78%) tune in for less than three hours daily (41% of those for less than one hour), while only 9% of UAE residents are routine listeners. Among the radio audience, 55% are parents of children under 18; 60% are aged 35 and above; 68% are male; and 32% female.Podcasts, meanwhile, now form part of the routine for a growing share of residents, with 8% of listening to podcasts every day — 41% stream for less than an hour, while 37% spend 1-3 hours daily with their favourite hosts. Among the daily users, men (66%) outnumber women (34%) by a wide margin, and besides bedtime, listening is most frequent when doing household chores, commuting, and working out. Social media remains the dominant content environment, and YouTube (81%), Facebook (73%) and Instagram (70%) are the most-used platforms among UAE residents. Facebook is more popular with those aged 35 and above (80%), while Snapchat retains a younger audience. TikTok and Twitter, however, seem to be equally popular among all age brackets.Over 70% say they use social media while engaging with other content — whether watching TV, listening to music or browsing news — while 68% have reported social media usage over the past month.UAE residents surpass other countries in social media consumption for most platforms, with YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Snapchat usage crossing the global average by over 10 percentage points.
The report also revealed that social media usage patterns are increasingly tied to purchase behaviour. Sixty-four per cent of UAE users say they have bought something after seeing an ad on social platforms, with higher conversion rates reported among younger audiences.
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