Fasting and Facebook redefining Ramadan
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES— The Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with its long days of fasting and prayer meant to draw worshippers closer to God and away from worldly distractions, is being reshaped by technology.
People in the Middle East spend close to 58 million more hours on Facebook during Ramadan and watch more YouTube videos than any other time of the year, making the holy month not only the most important one for Muslims, but also a prime time for advertisers.
For Facebook, which also owns Instagram, as well as Google which owns YouTube, Ramadan brings a welcome boost of business in the region.
Usage increase
“Consumption and time spent on our platforms does indeed increase,” said Ramez Shehadi, Facebook’s managing director for Mideast and North Africa.
People stay up a lot more at night during Ramadan and have more downtime especially before iftar, the evening meal that breaks the daylong fast, and the “suhoor,” when people gather to eat before another day of fasting.
Ramadan is also the peak season for advertising in the region, as TVdramas and soap operas get a 151-percent increase in viewership on YouTube during the holy month, according to Google.
“Our revenue is a function of people’s engagement,” Shehadi said.
Excess consumerism
It can appear as a contradiction that Ramadan—a time to disconnect from vacuous distractions to focus on contemplation, introspection and connecting with God—is also when companies ramp up their efforts to get people to buy more, view more and engage in excess consumerism.
“YouTube is a companion during Ramadan, a platform where viewers can watch what they want, whenever they want throughout the day,” Google says in its own pitch to advertisers.
To more authentically connect with roughly 180 million users in the Middle East, Facebook and Instagram launch special Ramadan icons to give people more customized ways of expressing themselves online.
“We’re trying to be magnifiers and propagators of goodness as opposed to what might seem on the surface like an extension of consumerism,” Shehadi said.