Aeolian Sands
Aeolian Sands
Episode 7 - What do UAE residents like to do for entertainment?
In this episode, we explore the behaviour of UAE residents across various areas of entertainment and leisure.
About Aeolian Sands
Ever wondered what makes Arabia tick? Aeolian Sands is our regular podcast that uncovers new insights into the Middle East. Join us for our latest deep dive.
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About duke+mir
duke+mir is a communications agency that supports founders and business leaders in the Middle East. Our team of expert advisors build effective brand strategies, creative campaigns and deploy measurable marketing tactics for a range of world-class businesses and challenger brands.
What you're about to hear has never been heard before. In today's podcast, we'll be unveiling a brand new research paper from Duke and Mir. And it's going to be a fun one as well because it's all about entertainment. Roll up, roll up. It's episode seven of Aeolian Sands. I'm Jon Ivan-Duke. And my lucky number seven opposite me. Mir, how are we doing?
Unknown:Good, how are you?
Jon Ivan-Duke:I'm very well. Obviously Lucky number seven a bit of a good luck charm, hopefully for our series. Before we get into the main crux of the matter, which is all about entertainment and our survey in the UAE I want you to name me as many films as you can with seven in the title, but you can't have seven because that's a bit too obvious.
Unknown:Gonna get 30 seconds. All right. Snow White, and the seven Dwarves.
Jon Ivan-Duke:Yes Good one. Nice one. Strong.
Unknown:I think that's the only one I know.
Jon Ivan-Duke:Anything that has cars in it? You know had a Tokyo Drift version of it.
Unknown:Fast and the Furious seven,
Jon Ivan-Duke:seven. Yeah, there you go. I mean, that's not the kind of thing there's too many other films with seven in their series. What about Marilyn Monroe film? If you need to scratch something? Seven Year Itch?
Unknown:Never seen that one. That's way beyond my time.
Jon Ivan-Duke:Yeah a bit of a classic. You could have Seven years in Tibet?
Unknown:Yeah, that's that was a good one.
Jon Ivan-Duke:It's Brad Pitt. Right? Yeah. It's good one. Magnificent Seven, made a couple of versions of that. And then one, which I haven't heard of. That was on IMDb. looking this up? The trial of the Chicago seven apparently it came out Eddie Redmayne.
Unknown:Yeah that was a good one, too. Yeah. Quite a hard wrenching movie. Okay,
Jon Ivan-Duke:I'll check it out. But yeah, I think of the seven related films seven is a great one. You know, again, Brad Pitt ones, maybe he's got a bit of a sort of theme along the southern line. But we're gonna get into it. And we're gonna talk a little bit about how people here in the UAE entertain themselves. And this is the first part of a two part study, we're also going to look at sports a little bit later on down the line, you can download this over on our website, which is gmail.com. And you'll also be able to find the best bits on our LinkedIn page as well. Now, we were having a look at this, and we were debating this between us a little bit, but we think we're one of the world's only podcasts that actually pay for their own research. So we asked more than 1000 people in the UAE what they do for fun. But before we go into those details, our first big discovery comes from the International Labour Organisation known as the ILO. Now, they track hard working nations. And it turns out from our research that the UAE is the second hardest working nation in the whole world, on average, UAE workers clock 50.9 hours per week, which is globally, apparently only behind Bhutan.
Unknown:And why is Bhutan the most hardworking?
Jon Ivan-Duke:That's a question which I don't know the answer to. And if I'm honest, I'm not sure I could point where Bhutan is on that map. And I studied geography.
Unknown:I think it'd be interesting to know, what's their GDP? What, what are they what are they making? Why are they what are they working so hard for?
Jon Ivan-Duke:I mean, I honestly, don't know.
Unknown:I think Bhutan is somewhere near Nepal. And therefore it must be a very beautiful part of the world. And I assume they just enjoy nature. And Bhutan, why are you working so hard?
Jon Ivan-Duke:Yeah. So I mean, they they put a lot of effort and time into these things. And a couple of interesting findings, and I looked at the difference between last year and this year. And apparently last year, the UAE was third. So we've actually become a more Harding word working nation in that time. And Majorca was was right there at the top. And that's dropped right down. So I don't know if the Moroccan government it was either New York or Malta might have been Malta actually, it was Malta dropped right down. So someone somewhere had said, Hey, guys, take a break, guys. But I don't think they're going to do that in the UAE. It's a super hard working place. And, you know, ever since I moved over here seven years ago, it's it's always been a place where I've worked really hard, I think partly has to do with the vision of the country. You know, everybody's pulling in that same direction. They're all trying to achieve something. And also, you know, there's the fair point of the fact that a lot of people move over here for making money so they can go back home.
Unknown:for audiences that don't know much about the UAE majority of the population are expats that move from around the world, to the UAE, to live, to their bring their families over, enjoy a better quality of life. And obviously, to have a quality of life, you have to have a job. And hence, I think that's why that number is so high.
Jon Ivan-Duke:Yeah, I certainly I think a lot of people have an entrepreneur entrepreneurial spirit over here as well. And I know a lot of people who have more than one job or they've got a sideline, it's pretty quiet a money oriented place. And what we will be going into is, is people having fun, you know, doing entertainment and having fun outside the house. And obviously, in order to do that, a lot of things require a bit of cash. So I think that's probably another thing which may be drives things. That leads us into our second sort of stat and, and this one was from the Duke Emir study, and it was that 97% of people in here in the UAE go out every single month to enjoy various forms of entertainment, which is a huge figure. I mean, it's nearly everybody. When we actually looked at it was 1000 people. And it was just a little over 30 I think it was 3132 people out of that 1000 People who don't go out every single month. So pretty much everyone is going out enjoying everything that's on offer here and there really is so much to enjoy in the UAE.
Unknown:Yeah, absolutely lots of things to do. Across the Emirates, I think each emirate is also unique offers different types of entertainment. So for example, you know, Russell Khaimah Fujairah, you've got fantastic hiking, you've got nature. Dubai, you've you know, they've expanded the beaches. So you see, every weekend, people at the beach playing sports, having picnics with their family. Abu Dhabi, again, very large Emirates, Alain, beautiful desert, people go camping again, overnight dune bashing, lots of things to do. And then of course, malls. Yeah,
Jon Ivan-Duke:I mean, to be honest, you probably wouldn't catch me in the malls too much. I probably before I was a dad, I'd be going out a fair bit, you know, it was typical, like live in the marina in Dubai and, and go out and sort of probably a little bit too often. And now I'm probably more likely to be found at seven o'clock at some riding stables somewhere than I am staying out till the early hours. But over this weekend, I was I went out on Friday night. And I felt like such an old man. Because over the weekend, my family were talking and I just couldn't hear them. Because I'd been in a really loud place. I was like, gosh, I'm such an old guy, I'm gonna I'm gonna have to like, you know, but it was it was different for me to be going out on a Friday night. It's just as a family, man, you your your perspectives and the behaviours change. And obviously, as part of this study, we did look at the cross section from those who were sort of 18 just entering their adult years, right through until to sort of, you know, the retirement age.
Unknown:So but I think does it also cover married with children? Yeah, yeah, of course.
Jon Ivan-Duke:It's It's everybody. It's
Unknown:so Is that true, is the fact that you go out less now that you're dead? Does that have more to do with where you live? Right? I'd assume for example, let's say families that live in the marina or JLT, or Business Bay or downtown, because you're in an apartment, most likely, right? Hence, you go out within the area more often. Versus let's say if you live in a community like Arabian ranches, meadows, Domark hills, Jumeirah, for example, you have more space. And maybe that's why you tend to go out less.
Jon Ivan-Duke:Yeah, but I think I think as well, it's not necessarily about going out less, it's about the type of activity you're doing, right? Because certainly when I was living in the marina, everything is on your doorstep, you go out and you can just go straight into a restaurant or a bar. Not necessarily the case when you live somewhere, you know, in one of our communities, which is a bit a little bit greener. And maybe there's lots of places go walking around there and things like that. So maybe you're not quite kind of going out as much to to eat on an evening in the community. Maybe you're making more of an effort to go downtown to go to Business Bay to some of the, you know, fancy restaurants. But also if you've got family, maybe you're sort of doing things more in the day. Maybe you're going out at lunchtime, maybe you're going to family friendly brunches with princesses. I've been to a fair few of those over the last few weeks, but I mean,
Unknown:okay, so do you tag along to things that you want your kid to go to cents or do you because I remember when I was growing up as a kid, my parents went out right now and they just take us along, we'd be like, by the end of the night, we'd be like crawled in a corner somewhere just sleeping on a couch or whatever. You know, they'd have dinner, they'd stay out late, they'd be with their friends. So we were always tagging along with them. It was never really like, okay, you know, that's gonna be kid friendly. Yeah,
Jon Ivan-Duke:I think it's a little bit of both. I think, you know, what is great over here in the UAE is this such variety. It's not just a case of adult restaurants, brunches, which are just for, you know, the people in the 1830s. It's, there's a mix, there are those places where you can go and you can be a family, and enjoy around other families, and not miss out on on doing those activities. You know, when they go back to the UK, and it's a little bit different. Things are not necessarily catered to families. I think I think the UAE does a fantastic job on the whole. Whether it's Dubai, whether it's Abu Dhabi or the the other emirates? I think there's an enjoyment factor that, you know, it doesn't just have to be for young people, there is something for
Unknown:everybody, for everybody. Yeah, 100%.
Jon Ivan-Duke:And I think, you know, one of the things I was interested in was, was what people are actually doing, and we've talked a little bit about it, but dining out is the top thing that people enjoy doing when they go out. And just looking at the stats that we had from that report, seven in 10 people it was around about 70% of people go out and eat and drink every single week. And and this is a huge number. You know, and I was trying to look at this and thinking, well, it's no surprise that there's so many restaurants or 100 restaurants that open just in Dubai every single month. And it's no surprise if so many people are going out and enjoying it.
Unknown:Yeah, I mean, it is. I think what I read this term, and this is specifically for like beach road in Dubai, where there are a number of cafes, it's called pitstop dining. So you're driving up and down in your car. See, we're very automotive. Historically, we've been very attached to our cars in the UAE. And you just kind of stopped, grab a grab a tea, you know, chill with friends talk, grab a shawarma, grab some dessert, some ice cream. And and yeah, it's a it's a favourite hobby amongst, I guess across all demographics, I would say and, and, and nationalities.
Jon Ivan-Duke:I was looking into this. And apparently they're 27,000, restaurants, cafes, coffee shops in the UAE, which is a huge number.
Unknown:And I mean, just further going into that stat 26,007 or 95 2500 of which are highly visited, and 73 of those have a five star rating. So it's there are a lot of restaurants. Not all of them very good. We know how cutthroat the hospitality industry is, for every you know, every year for the amount of restaurants that are open, I'm sure that a lot of a lot of them closed down as
Jon Ivan-Duke:well. Yeah. And we do obviously see that, and there are various reasons why they they closed down, but you know, the competitive nature of it, you can have a great chef, and you can have a great team. And even then, you know, if you're in the wrong location, it can still fail. And we've seen that with tonnes of different restaurants that perhaps they locate in the wrong place. Because and, and places change as well, the demographics change quite quickly, in different environments here, you know, so what may have been, you know, trendy, and an interesting even two years ago, might just be totally out of sync with the people who are living there, and what they want. So you do see places moving as well. You see places that maybe have appeared in one one community, and then they realised that actually their community has moved. So they go with them, and they go to a different location. What was what I thought was interesting about this kind of figure of around 70% of people, this this is so much higher than other places in the world. When you look at the UK you know, obviously mature market, lots of restaurants in the UK as well. But around half of people under 35 eat out at least once a week. And that falls to about a quarter amongst what they call empty nesters and retirees. So, no matter what study you look at, because there are loads of studies in the UK about dining habits, you know, obviously huge market, big population. Lots of restaurants people want to know this all the time. And uh, none of them came close to suggesting that you Case average was anywhere near the UAE. It was, it's just fascinating that the UAE is just such a such so much higher than than somewhere like the UK people are just wanting to get out there wanting to dine in different places. So naturally, you can see why a lot of these Michelin star places that we have, obviously a high average income in the UAE. You can see why these kind of Michelin star places are wanting to come here. Yeah,
Unknown:I think it's a double edged sword. And obviously, as you mentioned, this is part one of a report that we've put together, the first one focusing on entertainment. And I believe there was a phrase that you used within the report, referencing to the 97% of people in the UAE that that go out every day. Right. And I think the phrase was work hard play hard. And I think, yes, we're a very cosmopolitan city, mostly people come here to earn right and to be successful, and to turn their ideas into, into into businesses. Right. But I think there's that there's one thing that statements kind of incomplete. And that's kind of the balance for quality of life. Right? That's very important. You know, I read a report, while it was an article in Wired Middle East. Searches for the phrase how to improve my mental health and Arabic grew 1,000% in MENA over the last five years. World Health Organisation, and most recent data from their substance abuse shows that UAE Bahrain Lebanon, Qatar and Oman have the highest level of alcohol consumption. Jordan, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Yemen and Iraq. Lead in terms of tobacco consumption. Cigna Health Care vitality study revealed that stress levels in the UAE stood at 89%. Burnout symptoms reported that 99% of respondents and the predominant stress Well,
Jon Ivan-Duke:hold on 99% of people report symptoms of burnout of burnout. Yes. So what I mean, well, how do we define burnout, like, so? One day, you just wake up being like, I can't get out of that? Again, I
Unknown:think I haven't gone into the exact questions that they asked, right? This is just off the report. That's, that's crazy. But I can I can see why. And even if you look at very kind of underlying basic, let's say anxiety, right. But the two predominant stressors within the report that came out was cost of living and financial worries. Yeah. Now, let's say we said work hard, play hard. Yeah, you're crunching you're just behind Bhutan, doing 50 hours a week, right? Your 97% of people are going out 67, seven out of 10 people go out and even drink every week, the report from the latest report from I have it here. The Dubai department of economy and tourism 61% Of Dubai residents dine out at a restaurant almost three times a week. So you have a really hard working environment, right? And ethic. You've got people going out spent and obviously things cost money, right. And then you have the element of anxiety, stress, depression, you know, those things are also kind of taboo in specifically around Asian and Arab, Arab audiences. So seeking, so they're not seeking help. So I think that work hard, play hard. There's that other element, which is the quality of life. And I think that's what, and it's commendable, like you mentioned, as well, that there's there's something for everyone of every age group and every type of entertainment that you're seeking. And that ties up with the recent announcement from che calm down about the quality of life strategy, right. We covered this in our environment and nature report as well, in terms of spaces, outdoor spaces, so they're increasing.
Jon Ivan-Duke:I'd like to think that some of the work that we did, may have may have made its way to His Highness, I don't know.
Unknown:I mean, this is like music to my ears because I go biking, increasing cycling tracks by 300%. night swim beaches by 60% 30 parks with new designs, I've seen it just right below my house, living in a new community. A park is almost done where it's less than a three minute walk from my place. More than 3000 trees and plants are going to be planted that obviously this also fits into the master urban plan the 2014. Right, right. So I think I think that's also kind of important to highlight that, you know, it's a double edged sword. With so many restaurants in the city, that we also see rising, rising case of obesity, lack of exercise. But I think a holistic approach needs to be taken. Obviously, eating at home is healthier. It's more affordable. So well take it with a pinch of salt. I would say,
Jon Ivan-Duke:maybe it's healthy. And maybe it isn't. You know, I think it depends upon the chef, right? Like, I think it's very easy. Only one of the things that I've seen in terms of trends, and I don't know, I don't know if you've got one or not, but everybody I speak to you has an air fryer. And I'm like, it does is it any healthier? You know, the kinds of things you put in an air fryer, it's still going to be something that perhaps isn't so healthy.
Unknown:Yeah. But what people don't know is that people sticking cauliflower
Jon Ivan-Duke:in the air fryer? Probably not. They're probably trying to make some chicken wings.
Unknown:Well, I mean, people cook in air fryers, but what they don't know what's actually not healthy, is that you buy an air fryer, which the pan or the container inside is made of Teflon. Right? So Teflon frying pans, Teflon. air fryers are actually not the right, that's poisonous. It's actually really, really bad for you. Because over time that Teflon degrades and it enters into the food contaminates the food that you're eating. Why
Jon Ivan-Duke:is that? Where's the stats on that? I've never heard of
Unknown:this. Yeah, that's why that's why you should always use stainless steel or cast iron dishes when you're cooking at home. Avoid Teflon. It's, you know, I think also when you talk about like, is it healthier to eat at home versus it's definitely personal choices. But now, imagine this you're working 50 hours a week, right? Up clearly you're worried about the cost of living and financial worries, you're stressed, right? You're looking for convenience, you're gonna get fast food, you're gonna you're not going to be as an if you want to eat healthy, eating healthy is also not cheap. It's I don't know why it's priced always higher than, you know, what you can get at a, you know, a fast food chain or in a food court. Yes. Offer delivery. So I think I think that's important. And but but do you eat fast food? I mean, I used to always,
Jon Ivan-Duke:right? You you're healthier. Now you've you've optimised? I mean, the past
Unknown:five years, obviously, with age as I've grown, at that time, I had a metabolism of like, I could just eat whatever. And I could do whatever. But it's not, that's not the case anymore. Right?
Jon Ivan-Duke:Yeah. I mean, my whole eating habits changed. Because, you know, I have cholesterol issue. And this wasn't something that was led by by dining, because to be honest, I'd probably been eating relatively well beforehand. But it's sort of a genetic thing. And you know, that that changed my attitude. And I probably read way more than most people around what is actually healthy to eat and what isn't healthy to eat. And there's different, there's different I mean, for every person who says one thing, there's another person saying the other, it's, it's really difficult to, to sort of seed through all of that and read the right stuff or the stuff which is factually correct. So you have to almost go directly into the scientific journals, and even then, do scientific journals paid for by 100% Somebody so they need to be properly peer reviewed scientific journals. So the
Unknown:average person and the average person can't do that. It's really
Jon Ivan-Duke:difficult to kind of look at it, but it goes down to the basics are, is it is it natural. So straightaway, if it's got artificial additives in and all that kind of stuff is probably not going to be great for you. And it's it's scary, actually, when when you start looking at these things, the more you look at them, the more more you see, hey, oh, this has got whatever it's in it, you know, just as much as like, there's a famous cream cheese brand. And you think, well, it's just cream cheese, isn't it? But then, but then you realise it's got a bunch of additives in which you know, when you when you get the lite version, so the lite version, you think it's healthier, right? The lite version is got additives in it, you don't. So you're better off getting the full fat version and just using less
Unknown:correct, you know, just came to me I saw this, because you were mentioning at home, do you care what oil do you cook with? Depends what I'm cooking. Okay, so I saw this thing again. Fact, this needs to be fact checked, but I thought it was quite interesting. Canola oil. Yeah, you don't want to touch up. You don't want to you definitely don't want to touch but that is the most affordable, widely available. Also it's been pushed that that's healthier. It's lower cholesterol. That's what's been traditionally pushed over decades. Right. You know what Canadian you know what canola oil stands for?
Jon Ivan-Duke:I don't really want to know but go on. I know it's not good for you. So
Unknown:canola oil started its its journey as a product. It was actually motor oil, made in Canada for World War Two for the military, right for the allies. And then after kind of the war ended and it was peacetime they're like okay, what do we do with with all of this oil we have, you know, where we're extracting this. Let me just pull it up.
Jon Ivan-Duke:Yeah, I mean, it's I have seen these videos that are going round on Tiktok, which are essentially saying, Why are you putting motor oil into your body? Yeah, you know, again, it goes back to the the logical stuff. Is it natural, the more processed something is, the less likely it is to be good feet. So
Unknown:Canola is an acronym for Canadian oil, low acid. So they just managed to remove the acid from
Jon Ivan-Duke:it. But imagine, imagine if you like, you know, sort of turned around and said that to somebody, like, you know, just the average person and just gave that fact and said, Yeah, do you want to be putting that into your body? People are people gonna be like, No, but then, you know, two weeks later, they're just gonna, like, when they go in the supermarket, and they've got the, and I know this because I looked at I went looked in my local supermarket the other day, and it was, like, 65 dirhams for this, this bottle of olive oil, nice, good quality olive oil. And, and then, you know, you've got next to it, you've got these, you know, sprays that probably got all sorts of rubbish in it. So I can understand it, you know, when faced with that choice, you know, financial pressures versus health. And you've seen it from, you know, and I think a lot of it is pushed from North America. A lot of this this kind of, you know, the fast eating, all this kind of stuff is coming from the United States and portion sizes. Yeah, 100% I couldn't believe it when I first went to America. And it was the supersize and I thought it was a greatest thing in the world when, you know, when I was 10, I was 10 years old. You know,
Unknown:do you put a lot of ice in your drink? Like a coke or my,
Jon Ivan-Duke:you know, my dad, my dad has always said, don't put ice in your drink for various reasons, but primarily because we live in a hot environment, right. And you shouldn't really have too much ice because it's, it's kind of going to affect your internals.
Unknown:I mean, I grew up here. And obviously growing up here, most of the, at that time dining, you know, it was Pizza Hut, you know, kids, she Hardee's, you know, all of those things. And so it's really great. When you have so my habits are very like American, like, my Glass needs to be filled with ice. Right. Right. And then I have friends from Europe. And it's a very weird thing for them. They don't put, you know, that much ice like to ice cubes. Yeah. You know, which is the act like you said, it's actually that's better. But I think I think influence cultural influences also are very, are do also take kind of precedent in terms of the habits here. But but the good news is that it's changing, right. UAE is a young country, and they clearly understand and you've seen, you've seen this over the past five years, or even even more, more than five years, you know, 30 by 30, more awareness about healthy eating habits, providing options for people to exercise. These dining establishments, again, like you said, different trends, some, you know, on the super healthy side. And there's something for everyone. But as you mentioned, I think it comes down to awareness and choice.
Jon Ivan-Duke:Yeah. And you mentioned there about things like fitness challenges and things like that. What's really encouraging from our survey was that two thirds of people 66% of people are playing sports every single week. That's a really good number. And when you look at younger people, so 18 to 24 year olds, in the UAE, three quarters, so 75% of of young people are playing sport every single week, which I think is hugely encouraging. You know, we have seen His Highness Sheikh Hamdan pushing these initiatives across the Emirates. And what's what's great is that it seems like young people are listening. There was a time, even just five years ago, where if you conducted this study, you probably wouldn't have found that number so high. So I think those encouraging things the grassroots level sport is really feeding into the health of the nation. Super exciting. And,
Unknown:again, the way I look at it, it's it's probably one of the most affordable forms of entertainment. Right? All you need is a football. You go downstairs to the park. It's free. Yeah, you can play for hours. Right? Yeah,
Jon Ivan-Duke:I mean, my whole my whole childhood and certainly my whole my whole life. Actually, I've played sport, cricket, and,
Unknown:again, get together with the boys play cricket. You know, and then of course, you have other kinds of really sports that have that before you never really kind of saw or heard of paddle being one of them. You're seeing paddle courts everywhere, everywhere. You know, you play football, you've got a you've got the football team, you know, lots of indoor outdoor options for that guy wings named Chuck.
Jon Ivan-Duke:But beyond sport, there's a lot of other things that people are doing and a couple of things and I'll kind of go through these. So people also watch sport and they go out and watch it either at the stadiums or at pubs or cafes. 24% of people go to cinema every single week. And actually interesting, I was reading about this, the meanness cinema forum, hadn't heard of it before, if I'm honest, said that the UAE is going to join the world's top 10 leading markets for global box office revenues by 2030. To be a top 10 When you've got a population of less a 10 million ish, it's meaner. Yeah. So this is the meanest cinema forum. And it's the UAE is set to join the top world's the world's top 10. Or markets, you know, you've got huge, obviously huge places like like China, with billions, India billion people, America, UK, they're much, much bigger populations, but they're saying that the UAE is going to be getting right up there. Now, there's couple of things in there. It could be volume of people going and frequency now 24%, to me seems like quite high. I don't I definitely don't go to the seminar every single week. So it seems really high to me, because I don't
Unknown:so are these these are weekly, weekly, nearly a quarter of a quarter of people saying that they go to the cinema weekly. Yeah. But but
Jon Ivan-Duke:you know, you can, you can kind of understand it, there are some great cinemas over here, there's lots of different places to go. He seems like a very high figures, I mean, I guess is one of the ones I would have questioned perhaps when
Unknown:it comes down to and maybe if we dive deeper into the the cohort of the demographics, it could be higher income individuals that are going once a week to the cinema, because going to the cinema is not cheap, either. You know, if you're just going to get the most basic ticket, you'll get a box of popcorn and two balls of water for two people that's already 150 there. So I'd go
Jon Ivan-Duke:so far as to say that that given that given the you know, maybe there's a certain expense associated with a duck can lead into that figure about box office revenue, because if people are going, but But you know, the figure of 24%, that would very much tie in with that, he would say high volumes of people going spending a decent amount in the cinema. And thereby, that leads into it being a top 10 nation, you know, ever trying to be the number one and everything we might be the number one in, in cinema going in due course, a similar number of people go to live concerts or performance. Now this could be anything, right? This could be somebody playing in the local bar, or it could be a big scale grand production of Les Mis, which I went to recently at the Dubai opera, which was fantastic, by the way.
Unknown:Yeah.
Jon Ivan-Duke:You know, I think I think that's the difference, isn't it, the raw, small scale things that people can do, there are the kind of daily activities, the weekly activities, things which maybe don't cost as much money. So there are things to do to like that. But then if you want to go big, if you want to go luxury, if you want to go grand, then there are also those things to do. And what I tend to see is when there are things like sporting events, so like the f1, you see the big X coming in, and obviously we've got, you know, recently though, they were talking about the launch of tickets for Green Day, with the offspring as sporting X, who isn't going to want to go to that. Yeah.
Unknown:I mean, because like it's they you know, those big names attract. attract audiences obviously positions the country as a tourism hub. But as you mentioned, there's so many things happening within communities, fringes, niches for you know, every type of audience. Yeah. Which I think is quite, which is also important, they possibly don't have as much exposure. So we don't kind of learn about it or see about it, because I would love to experience different things, right. Maybe there's a small production of an independent, you know, theatre act, put together somewhere. It's very hard for me to learn about it. Unless I'm, I know someone or someone who's recommended it to me. Or I see it on Instagram, or I read about it in the news, but you don't unfortunately, you don't see that as often. Yeah,
Jon Ivan-Duke:I mean, what what kind of underpins all of this is there is a lot of investment. Abu Dhabi has just released its tourism plan for the next few years. And it's putting $10 billion into the infrastructure to enhance experience experiences. Now, obviously, that's with a goal of attracting more tourists. But, you know, they're going to do things like further investment in museums that's going to not just appeal or attract the tourists. It's going to be a great asset for the residents of the UAE. They're expanding Warner Brothers world. They're developing Harry Potter World there. There's the whole Saudi out cultural district, tonnes of things that there's sports and adventure reiland that they're having in Abu Dhabi as well. And there's enhancements to yas Waterworld, there's loads of things that they're putting their attention into in order to kind of get those tourists in. And I think that's part of the key. I think that's honestly one of the key things that makes the UAE entertainment sector so vibrant. They're trying to bring in the tourists, but it's actually the residents and the citizens of the UAE who can truly benefit from it.
Unknown:Yeah, of course, tourists coming in, is good for local businesses as well, right? They're going to stay in the hotels, they're going to eat at your restaurant, they're going to shop at your, at your fashion store. You know, though, they'll book in a yoga class, they'll go on a desert Safari, so it's great for local businesses, I would love to, or I'd expect that of the 10 billion, at least some portion of that is earmarked to support and create those local spaces for for, you know, more alternatives. So like, oh, sorry, Carl is a good example. Right? It was a strategic investment to, to imagine a different form of entertainment. One that is inclusive community collective driven. Yeah, different ideas. So and you've got to have a vision cinema to cinema kills is a great example. Right? Cinema, Akil is an independent theatre, which shows movies that you know, and films that people really want to see and enjoy, which are not going to be at Vox or at real at the big cinemas, right. And similarly, you know, how do we get local act? Comedians, theatre? performers, dancers? How do we create spaces for them where they're not going to be performing at the Etihad arena? For example? Or yeah, or the or the Koch Arena in Dubai? So I think part of that strategy needs to look at that as well.
Jon Ivan-Duke:Yeah, I mean, we didn't actually go into karaoke stats, but I mean, that's probably something we can do for next time. And obviously, the entertainment sector across the UAE is booming. It's growing at nearly 10% per year. So you know, an exciting and vibrant time for the entertainment sector. But it's not just entertainment out of the house. It's entertainment in the house as well, that we looked at. And our study of 1000 people, which we did with with our guys over at You Gov, they found a tonnes of people love watching movies at home as well. The most common activity that people in the UAE are doing is watching movies at home 83% of people are kind of however they're tuning in, you know, whatever format. My algorithms are absolutely done. They're done. Because my, my wife has been watching bridgerton. And all those kinds of programmes, which, to be honest, you're never going to catch me watching. And my daughter sometimes puts on, you know, it's like it goes, you know, you know, my profile. I know, I know, I know this, but it still gets used by the other family members in the House, they just go on the first one that's there, and mine is right at the top, just go on that one. But it's destroyed, it's totally destroyed, I'm going to set up a second one, I'm going to set up a private one, I might even set up as a separate, it's
Unknown:actually easier. Just turn your account and turn on child safety where there's a PIN code that you need to enter and don't tell anyone.
Jon Ivan-Duke:Fantastic. I wish I knew that I can then use that in my wife can make sure that she doesn't get into my profile. Because at the end of the day, my profile would look very different to the selections of things like bridgerton and all that. I mean, I honestly, it's reality TV and things like that. And you know, the suggestions that it comes up with now for me that they're definitely not meant for me. How do you watch your movies at home?
Unknown:On a projector? I don't have I haven't owned a TV since I think like good 15 years. There's not a TV in the house. Right?
Jon Ivan-Duke:So it's just getting projected onto a wall.
Unknown:Okay, and that's only for movies or TV shows. And again, the not that frequently, but most frequently I watch movies or content on devices laptop phone, right. And I think that's why this number is so high 83% Watching movies at home because people aren't watching on TV. They're watching it on the mobile well, that also plus the sheer number of screens in a house now you've got an iPad, you got a phone, you got a laptop, you got a TV, right? There's also passive watching. So something's playing in the background. You're cracking on you're working, right? A lot of people do that as well.
Jon Ivan-Duke:I can't do that. And I think I can have something on in the background. I can have music, I can watch TV shows.
Unknown:I like people. I have the news playing in the background, you know, really? Yeah. It's
Jon Ivan-Duke:really interesting. I mean, when I was when I was younger, like when I was working at places like Sky Obviously, you've got tonnes of screens, you've got bank screens, you've constantly watch watching everything. So I don't know whether my evolution to the way I work now has kind of flipped it. Same when I was working in PR in London, I'd have loads of screens around me watching sport, having news channels on, as you say. And I wonder whether whether my attitude and the way that I work now is is very different is shaped by that because I tend to prefer to have just total focus, and don't have anything on around me. Maybe have a little bit of music. But that would be it. Yeah. Yeah.
Unknown:I think also, and this, you know, this is 83% Watch movies at home. Going back to the earlier stats. It's more affordable. Right. I think also habits from during the pandemic, right. We were forced to sit at home. Yeah. Going to a cinemas expensive. Also in another podcast episode. I can't remember which one it is where we talked about the movie industry's over reliance on sequels. Yeah, right. And kind of those franchise movies, quality and movies, not that exciting. cinema experience hasn't really changed. Remember, when 3d glasses was the thing? That's Do you see a 3d glass anywhere? Nope. It's trees, or dx seats, moving water or whatever? Right? Yeah. So unless, you know, so going to the cinema was like isn't experience right? I went to this really bougie one recently in downtown. And basically, there's a bouncer at the door, he opens the velvet rope, you walk inside, you don't walk inside to a food counter with the movies displayed. You walk into a bar. So the bar they're making cocktails, you know, so. So I guess people are doing that, because it's much more you know, they go with friends, they'll, they'll have a drink, then they'll go watch a movie. But again, crazy, crazy expensive. And you can't do that every week. Right? But the
Jon Ivan-Duke:stats would show that a lot of people are they actually investing their leisure time in doing that. And speaking of kind of things, you know, you talked we talked a lot about about movies out in movies at home, we talked about sports, watching sports out of the house, 68% of people are watching live sports at home. I think this is really difficult. And I do. Because I have subscriptions, I pay for different ones, I watch a lot of things like NFL, on my phone or on my laptop, or I cast it on my TV. But I think there is a lot of difficulty here. Because of the issues with the distribution of things, we don't have a homegrown broadcaster, we'll go into this a little bit more in one of our upcoming episodes, which dives into sports. 64% of people are reading books, obviously, that can be anywhere 53% of people are playing video games as well. Now, obviously, in order to have do these things, watch movies, play video games, we often need subscriptions. And we wanted to find people what people are actually signed up to the global subscription economy is worth$1.5 trillion. And in our report, we went into this and it's the same size as the Indonesian economy. Or if we take Saudi Arabia's entire economy, and the UAE entire economy and we smush them together, we get a figure around about the same size of the global online subscription economy. And 81% of people in the UAE are signed up to at least one paid entertainment subscription. 49% are using entertainment streaming services for the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, all that kind of stuff. And 48% have a paid home television subscription as well, by default,
Unknown:I think right? Yeah, I thought I gotta start figure when you get internet. I don't have a TV, I will just tell them, Hey, do you have a price? Where it does get the internet or not the TV? They're
Jon Ivan-Duke:like, No, no, you know, he got you got it. You
Unknown:gotta take that. And you got to take the phone line, because you never know when you might need a landline. Yeah,
Jon Ivan-Duke:it's true. And, you know, along those lines, as there's around about a quarter of people have got music or podcast streaming subscriptions. So obviously, you can check out Aeolian sands on Spotify and various other places. And then 21% have sports streaming subscriptions I do as well. So which one? So I've got one for Dezan which I hadn't heard of two years ago, but I had to get it because I watched a lot of American football. So this is a kind of global subscription thing. And it's the only way that I can watch legally watch American football. And I think it's really important to note that our survey here in the UAE it didn't look at illegal streaming. A lot of the trending stuff at the moment is around or you're gonna get busted if you've got an Amazon Fire Second year, you know, you're not using it in the way that it's meant to be used. I mean, there's a lot of people I mean, I'm not going into this in too much detail. But there are people who have different ways of, of accessing information that are not necessarily the ones which they're going to say, in a, in a survey, where there were it's market research. So if somebody's going to say, Hey, do you know the way i i stream my stuff is I've got a dodgy box. VPN? Exactly. They're not necessarily going to say that. Online video gaming subscriptions, we've heard that kind of not just here in the UAE, but also in Saudi Arabia, this real push towards being a place where video gaming and different forms of gaming are going to take flight, and they're going to invest in them, and they're going to bring, make homegrown gaming companies and things like this. 90% of people have got a gaming subscription 12% of got a fitness and wellness subscription. 11% of ebook subscriptions, and 8% signed up to paid magazine and news services. So I guess readings a little bit further down videos and watching is right at the top. And then the other things like fitness and wellness and video gaming is kind of somewhere in the middle of middle. Yeah.
Unknown:Which sounds about right. I think I would also categorise my subscriptions as like that. Yeah.
Jon Ivan-Duke:And when it comes to subscriptions, obviously they do cost a lot of money. And you know, however much people spend on these things, about a third of people in the UAE have got subscriptions that they rarely use, and they would consider cancelling. So it got me thinking well, how much people actually spending on it. And this is what I would have followed up with if we if we could have done. But it's pretty difficult because a lot of that information is private. I don't know what Spotify is. Revenue is here. I don't know what, you know, peloton how many people are using peloton? Who knows. So it's difficult to say how much money people are wasting. But imagine, imagine it's $20 a month just it's not a very much it might be I think it's probably going to be even more than let's say 100 theorems.
Unknown:I would say I think more? I think that's a good question. Isn't it?
Jon Ivan-Duke:100 theorems. That's 1200 dirhams potentially over the course of a year. Yeah. You know, whoever's
Unknown:listening, I'd be curious to know what they spend. Yeah, if they're willing to share, if they would share how much on average they spend per month?
Jon Ivan-Duke:Do you know, I don't think people will know,
Unknown:the entertainment. Yeah,
Jon Ivan-Duke:they weren't so easy to sign things. And then forget about them seven day trial is sign up to forget about them have have subscriptions that you're not using, or, and this is why we asked the question. Because, you know, even just between ourselves, I look at it. And I think, yeah, I've definitely got subscriptions. I'm not necessarily using all that often. And maybe I'm using them every couple of weeks, but maybe I should be using them every day for the amount that I'm spending on.
Unknown:And then things like password sharing, sharing subscriptions. What Netflix wanted to crack down on.
Jon Ivan-Duke:That's,
Unknown:that's, you know, that's that's that's big as well hold
Jon Ivan-Duke:my hands up on that one there. I 100% I've had
Unknown:but what you know, what's wrong with it? I don't know why there's obviously yes. Revenue, isn't it? Revenue? Right. But I mean,
Jon Ivan-Duke:I think there's so many ways, there's so many different ways that people can, can can, why not just push different products on it? And they are starting to do this? They're starting to push gaming things on there. Yeah, things.
Unknown:Netflix is starting in stream advertising now, which people are they're gonna start rolling that out. They're testing it in certain markets. That's going to be I think, not, not good for for Netflix, or at least we'll see if people put up with it. Right. Oh, are you willing to pay an extra $5 a month so that you don't see the ads? I would definitely,
Jon Ivan-Duke:yeah. Yeah, I probably have. I mean, if I were to guess I reckon I've probably got 10 to 12 subscriptions of various varieties, it's probably more than the average person because think I, you know, look at things like my American football subscription. You know, that's the only way I can get it. If I could access it on the TV. I probably just use the TV version, but it just isn't on there. And if I was in the UK, I probably wouldn't need as many subscriptions because most of it would probably be on the broadcaster's but it's so fragmented that market here that you're almost forced down the streaming, streaming route. And then, you know, things like things like Netflix things like Amazon Prime things, like you know, and we didn't actually go into this but there's now subscriptions for things like like like your, your sort of Amazon Prime things, your E commerce subscriptions that people have. I've got a subscription to a food delivery service that, you know, brings us some meals every week. So everything's become In this economy,
Unknown:Korean plus all about they want money upfront. Give you a 10% discount on your taxis but the taxis are also 10% more expensive. Oh, sneaky.
Jon Ivan-Duke:It's always gets me though is like, the more that you know, we talked about like this place being vibrant, right? The more vibrant and becomes the busier it becomes the busier it becomes the more expensive it becomes primarily because if you're ever getting a taxi or an Uber anywhere, especially if you've got Uber or creams during surges, you're going to be spending a lot going to places stress.
Unknown:Lots and lots of stress. Yeah, it does.
Jon Ivan-Duke:It does come down to these financial aspects and looking at the money that people are spending, they're clearly spending it on entertainment, they're clearly going out across the UAE and you know, whether they're at home, subscribing to different services and putting their money out there whether it's going to restaurants and dining out which is the number one thing that people like to do in the UAE the it costs money, and that's why people I think in many ways are working so hard. They're paying for their this exciting, vibrant lifestyle that they have. All right, this is been an episode of Aeolian sands, you can obviously follow us @AeolianSands on Tiktok. You can also follow us @duke_mir on Instagram. Thank you very much for listening to episode seven of Aeolian Sands. Join us next time.