Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Yahoo! seeks Arabic content partners for growth

Yahoo! Inc. Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz said the company is seeking more Arabic-language content partners, due to a “huge opportunity” for Internet growth in the Middle East, Bloomberg reported.

“The Middle East and North Africa is one of the most exciting markets for us at Yahoo, with a combination of rapid user growth and a very attractive advertising market with incredible potential,” according to an e-mail statement said Bartz, according to a statement from Yahoo! today.

"Arabic is one of the fastest-growing languages on the internet. Yet only 1 percent of online content is in Arabic today. Clearly there's huge growth potential here," The National noted.

"Part of Yahoo!'s investment in MENA is to facilitate the growth of the Arabic language online," Bartz added. She mentioned the digital spending market in that area is growing at a rate of between 25 and 30 percent annually.

In 2009, Yahoo! acquired the Arabic-language online venture Maktoob.com Inc., and then became the second-largest online news destination in the region. It also owns the biggest market share of display advertising, at 40 percent, in the Middle East and North Africa, according to the statement, Zawya reported.

Image: Satish Kumar / The National

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