July 9th, 2018, Prasenjit Karmakar
As part of its commitment to make its MENA offering fully online, YouGov, the international data and analytics group, is focusing its work in the region on its data products and data services.
To make sure that clients get both the best quality and best value research, the group has taken the strategic decision to step away from its custom research operation across MENA. This move fully transforms YouGov in the region to a products-focused, online-only business aligned with the company’s worldwide strategy.
It follows on from the announcement earlier in the year that YouGov has made its research operations purely digital in the Middle East and North Africa. This makes it the only leading global market research company in the region to provide online-only research. The decision falls in line with the company’s core global vision of being the leader in online research and data analytics across the globe.
Since launching in the Middle East and North Africa 12 years ago YouGov has built an online panel of consumers who participate in online surveys across 21 markets. Between August 2016 and July 2017 those members completed over 3.4 million YouGov surveys online, compared to 670,000 just four years before, a testament to the phenomenal growth of the digital landscape in the Arab world.
Sundip Chahal, YouGov COO: “We continue to see MENA as a key region for YouGov and our commitment to delivering the highest quality and online research in the region is a testament to that. Clients across MENA are now well-versed in online research and they like that our data products and services allow them to take control of the research experience. We want to target our efforts at both growing our online panels across the market and also focus on working with clients on online-only work.
“Online research is only going to be bigger across the region. Today 173 million people in the Arab world are connected online, a figure that is expected to grow dramatically in the coming years. It is no longer a case of if but when the Middle East and North Africa will be a fully digital-lead economy. In taking this strategic decision means we are best placed to take advantage of this sea change and deliver quality online research to our clients across the Middle East.”