Fans & Content
Arabic-speaking fans want more. Most rights holders are still translating
Sam Cherry
Founder
,
2403 Group
8
minutes to read
KEY TAKEAWAY
Arabic-speaking fans are online, engaged and asking for more content in their own language, but very little of what rights holders publish meets them there. The answer is to plan and make content in Arabic from the start, then version it for everyone else, so Arabic stops being the translation job you get round to at the end.
Which language does your content team plan in? If you're like most international rights holders, Arabic sits near the bottom of the plan, arriving late as subtitles or a translated caption on a post that was made for someone else. Even in the Gulf, plenty of clubs, festivals and venues still write in English first and translate second.
That made some sense when the money and the media were elsewhere, but it makes much less sense now. The Arabic-speaking audience is large, connected and young, and it's telling researchers clearly that it wants more content in its own language. It's also saying that much of what exists feels dated. That's an uncomfortable message for anyone who translates last, and a rare head start for the rights holders who listen.
400m+
people use Arabic every day
UNESCO
0.6%
of websites use Arabic as a content language
W3Techs, 2026
71%
of young Arabs prefer media in Arabic
Arab Youth Pulse Survey, 2026
Where's all the Arabic content?
UNESCO describes Arabic as a language used daily by more than 400 million people. Yet W3Techs, which tracks the content languages of websites, finds Arabic on just 0.6% of them. English sits at 49.5%, and German and Japanese account for 5.9% and 4.9%. One of the world's most used languages has a smaller footprint online than German or Japanese.
The audience is online, too. ITU estimates that 70% of people in the Arab States region used the internet in 2025. The problem sits on the supply side.
You can hear that gap in what young people say. The Congress ACI Arab Youth Pulse Survey, run by Ipsos with the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, asked 4,092 people aged 18 to 25 across ten Arab countries about language and media. Seven in ten (71%) prefer media in Arabic, while 67% believe Arabic content feels outdated. So young Arabs want to watch in their own language, and much of what they're offered isn't keeping up.
If an Arabic-speaking fan can tell it was translated, you've already lost some of their attention.
Why sponsors care which language you use
There's a hard commercial case for this. CSA Research's survey of 8,709 consumers in 29 countries found that 76% prefer to buy products with information in their native language. Four in ten (40%) will never buy from websites in other languages. Sponsors know this. A partner activating in Riyadh or Cairo wants content its customers will actually engage with.
Content made in Arabic also travels. YouTube says more than 95% of watch time for UAE-based channels comes from outside the country. So a strong Arabic series made in Dubai can find fans far beyond the UAE, in a market much bigger than the city you play or perform in.
Arabic-first doesn't mean Arabic-only. It means planning, scripting and producing for Arabic speakers from the start, with dialect, humour and cultural references that land, and only then versioning for English and other languages.
It's a casting decision as well. Arabic-speaking presenters, players, artists and creators who sound like the audience will always beat a voiceover added at the end. I'm happy for the format to come from anywhere, as long as the voice sounds like it's from down the road.
Get the timing right, then keep score
Ramadan, Eid, national days and local derbies shape when and how Arabic-speaking audiences watch, and content planned around those moments, in the right tone, earns attention that a global calendar misses. A late-night Ramadan series made for the way families watch together can do more for a partner than a month of translated previews.
Finally, treat your Arabic-speaking fans as an audience in their own right: track their reach, watch time and sentiment as a separate line in your reports, and build a proper picture of who they are and what they care about. If you can't see that audience in your numbers, you can't grow it, you can't put a value on it and you can't sell it.
Worth pausing on
How much of last month's content was created in Arabic first, rather than translated? And if an Arabic-speaking fan followed only your channels, would they feel you were talking to them, or past them?
Three Key Steps
Find out where you stand, prove the idea with one series, then sell it.
1
Take stock of your language mix
Go through everything you published last quarter and put it in one of three piles: made in Arabic first, translated, or English only. Then compare that with where your audience and sponsors actually are. Many rights holders find the Arabic share is small and arrives late, and that baseline tells you how far you need to move.
2
Build one flagship series in Arabic
Pick a series with clear appeal and script it in Arabic from day one, with native presenters and local references. Young Arabs say much Arabic content feels outdated, so make yours modern, fast and built for mobile. Only once the Arabic version is done should you adapt it for English.
3
Sell the Arabic audience separately
Package your Arabic-first content as a sponsor product in its own right, with its own audience data. Consumers strongly prefer to buy in their own language, so regional brands will value it. Then report Arabic reach, engagement and sentiment on their own, so partners can see exactly what that audience is worth.
If an Arabic-speaking fan can tell it was translated, you've already lost some of their attention.
The Gulf is where translating last costs most
Saudi Arabia alone shows why. It has 38.6 million social media user identities, equal to 111% of its population, and YouTube's ad reach covers 79.2% of the population. Few audiences anywhere are as connected, or as ready to watch content made for them.
The region is also adding sport, music and cultural properties at speed, and every new league, festival and museum is competing for the same Arabic-speaking attention. Those that speak to fans in their own language and dialect will build the stronger relationships, while those that translate last will keep wondering why engagement is low. The window to lead in Arabic is open now, and I'd move while it is.
And it applies well beyond the Gulf. North African rights holders serve audiences that move between Arabic, French and local dialects, while rights holders in Asia and Africa courting Gulf sponsors or fans need Arabic versions that feel native rather than machine-made. Content made for one Arabic-speaking market can serve the wider region when the language and tone are right. Wherever you are, the principle is the same: start with the language your audience thinks in.
How Arabic-first is your content today?
A quick check to run with your content, marketing and partnerships teams.
How much of what we publish starts life in Arabic?
Which Arabic dialects do our fans actually speak?
Be honest: do our Arabic posts get less effort than the English ones?
Can we show sponsors our Arabic-speaking audience as a separate number?
Whose job is it to make sure our Arabic content is good?
From 15,000 AED a month
Timeline
Monthly
Arabic speakers are one of the largest under-served audiences in sport, music and culture, and they're telling anyone who asks what they want. The rights holders who treat Arabic as a first language will build the kind of trust that translation can't buy.
If your Arabic content is still an afterthought, one flagship series is a good place to start. And if you'd rather have it made for you, our Content Studio managed service produces Arabic-first highlights, series and multilingual edits every month.
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