Youtube, the world’s most popular video sharing platform, now has a localised channel for the United Arab Emirates.  

The localised version showcases the most popular videos in the UAE, and features local content from regional users on its homepage. 

The new Youtube.co.ae channel is part of Google’s colossal MENA expansion plan, which saw localised versions of the site appear in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen last year.  

Statistically, with 167 million video viewings per day, MENA supplies Youtube with its largest audience outside of the United States. It’s a whopping figure, and Youtube executives are keen to cash in on the site’s regional popularity. 

“We have seen enormous growth for YouTube in the MENA region,” exclaims Ari Kesisoglu, Google’s Managing Director for Middle East and North Africa, “[We] expect this expansion to continue even more significantly with the launch of the UAE domain.” 

The UAE version went live on Sunday, April 1st, 2012, and has already attracted a lot of media attention. We at Traffic applaud the move, and wish the co.ae channel all the best. 

Happy localised YouTubing guys…

The iconic Dubai Marina Mall now has a new website!  The new site features the latest and the best in web design technologies and techniques and gives a cleaner, more modern look and feel to the Mall’s online presence, thus adding luster to Traffic’s web design Dubai portfolio.

The root of the new site’s design lay in Dubai Marina Mall need for a fresh looking website, to dust off the Mall’s old school online appearance. According to the Mall’s marketing team, the new site’s design needed to be:

 •  Professional
 •  Flexible
 •  Stylish
 •  Extremely User Friendly

In the words of Nadia Constatino, Sales & Accounts Manager, Traffic Online, “The fundamental idea was to set up a website which clearly communicated everything that Dubai Marina Mall represented. Our task was to take everything that Dubai Marina Mall does, everything it owns and everything it serves and carry it over to the virtual world in a presentable and professional manner.”

With these goals in mind, the Traffic team set out to give Marina Mall Dubai a fresh online identity.

The new site is all about style! The site features a simple yet appealing design, which is formed using the latest in web design techniques and applications. In terms of graphic design the site leans heavily on Traffic’s research on local consumer behavior, online marketing trends, and the latest AIDA techniques. A large flash banner and a custom-made image slider form part of this modernization. From the point of view of functionality the site sports smooth navigation which offers instant access to required information. In other words the site is designed to offer a perfect balance of beauty and functionality and can be considered the epitome of Traffic’s design strategy.

“We believe that an operable web design is worth two inoperable web designs. The Marina Mall project was a perfect opportunity for our team to showcase our functional design ideology.” remarked Johnny Huntington, Managing Director Traffic Online. He further exclaimed: “I’m glad that we were able to meet and exceed the client’s expectations.”

We certainly are glad that Dubai Marina Mall is pleased with our graphic and layout designs and is happy with the site’s overall performance.