TikTok Use in MENA: A Year in Review
The short video app continued to grow in usage and influence, including in the MENA region. However, this growth is resulting in increased scrutiny about the app, including its ownership model and usage trends.
10 min readMay 15, 2023
This is an extract from Social Media in the Middle East 2022: A Year in Review, by Damian Radcliffe and Hadil Abuhmaid with Nii Mahliaire and published by the University of Oregon-UNESCO Crossings Institute.
Globally, seven of the Top 10 countries for the app — by reach — are in MENA; and nine of the Top 20. The top five spots are all held by Middle East nations.
- Usage of the app is ubiquitous in UAE and Saudi Arabia where penetration is over 100%.*
- That’s closely followed by Kuwait (98.8% reach), Qatar (96.5%) and Iraq (94.5%).
- Meanwhile more than three-quarters of the adult population use the app in Bahrain (78.7%) and Lebanon (76.3%); and more than six in ten adults in Jordan (62.9%) and Israel (62.8%)
