The Holy month of Ramadan is an important time for television viewership in the Middle East, with a huge surge in TV viewership, particularly, for Arabic dramas. However, according to Meltwater, a global media intelligence firm, an analysis of social media reactions around popular MBC TV channel’s Ramadan programs, show that people in Arab countries were more engaged with Arab entertainment and reality shows during Ramadan 2016.

An analysis of the comments on Twitter and Facebook between 6th of June to 8th July 2016, using Meltwater social media monitoring and analysis tools, reveal that the most talked about MBC show during this Ramadan was ‘Selfie’, a sketch comedy show that tackles controversial issues. ‘Selfie’, received 57% of mentions on social media.

‘AlSadma’, or the Shock, a prank show that uses shock therapy to examine human behavior in certain situations, was the second most talked about show generating 27% of social buzz.

In the third place is Egyptian prankster Ramez Galal’s ‘Ramez Plays with Fire’ show, that features several celebrities including Steven Seagal, receiving 16% of mentions in comparison to other MBC Ramadan programs.

“Every Ramadan, there is a sharp increase in TV viewership,” says Zubair Timol, Area Director for India, Middle East & Africa at Meltwater. “With the help of Meltwater tools we can analyze the sentiments, demographics, and social media conversations about shows on popular TV channels to understand their consumer reach and engagement. This gives brand and marketing managers solid information to make intelligent decisions regarding advertising and promotional campaigns for their brands.”

The highest amount of conversations about the MBC shows took place on Twitter (73%) followed by Facebook at (24.09%). The shows and dramas tracked for this search were  بنات سوبر مان (Banat Super Man), الكيف (Al Keif), صد رد(Sad Rad), أبو البنات (Abo Al Banat), قمرة (Qomra), الإمام الطيب (Al Emam Al Taieb), حروف وألوف (Horouf wa olouf), وعد(Wa’ad), نص يوم (Nos Youm), يونس ولد فضة(Younes Weld Fedda), أفراح القبة (Afrah Al Qouba), مأمون وشركاه(Ma’mon wa Shorkah), أحمد الشقيري (Ahmad Al Shugairi), حارة الشيخ (Harat Al Shaikh), الدمعة الحمرا (Al Dama’a Al Hamraa), باب الحارة(Bab al Hara),  الأسطورة (Al Ostoora), سليم (Saleem), (Al Shoryan) الشريان, (Samar Kanad) سمرقند, (Ramadan Yagama’na)رمضان يجمعنا , (Min Al Sifr) من الصفر and برنامج الإيمان والعصر (Al Eman Wa Al Asr), سيلفي (Selfie), الصدمة (AlSadma), رامز بيلعب بالنار (Ramiz  Byelab  Bilnar).