📱 Egyptians are spending more time online than ever, but more interestingly, they’re doing more of everything at once. The latest snapshot from the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA), which tracks internet usage over a 24-hour period in 2026, offers a telling look at what our online environment actually entails. The scale alone is striking, with 65.6 mn users browsing daily, 55 mn using search engines, and 54.3 mn active on social media — but the real story lies in what is growing and how quickly.

Doomscroll galore

Entertainment, it seems, is ahead by a mile. Consumption of entertainment content in Om El Donia rose by 60% overall since 2025, with streaming alone jumping by 67% — the highest growth rate across all tracked activities. More than 52 mn users are now collectively watching 43.7 mn hours of content daily. The appeal is not difficult to understand… and not surprising either, given the streaming takeover of the industry, exemplified in Egypt through the onslaught of viewers opting for streaming over broadcast this past Ramadan.

Short-form video is following closely behind, with a 60% increase in usage and 42.6 mn users creating and consuming bite-sized content. If streaming caters to longer attention spans, short-form video thrives on immediacy. Together, they suggest that attention is not necessarily shrinking — it’s simply fragmenting.

Gaming, meanwhile, is quietly becoming something more than a pastime. With 31 mn daily players and a 21% increase in usage, online gaming is emerging as a serious digital economy in its own right. Egypt’s gaming market is well on its way to becoming the largest in the region, with 91.6% of internet users in Egypt being gamers, according to the Communications Ministry. This continued growth points to a shift toward gaming streams and content creation, competitive play, and monetization windows that extend beyond entertainment in the land of The Pharaohs.

Beyond entertainment

Not all growth, however, is driven by leisure. Remote meetings saw a 7% increase, with 6.5 mn users logging 159.5 mn hours. This uptick follows government-led energy-saving measures, including work-from-home initiatives on Sundays, but is also a reflection of a broader shift toward hybrid and flexible working models.

Online shopping tells a similar story of gradual but steady change. With 29.8 mn users and a 10% increase in activity, e-commerce continues to gain ground. Convenience is the obvious driver, but changing retail dynamics, including store hours and accessibility brought forth by the month-long commercial curfew, may have also been nudging consumers toward digital alternatives. It’s less a surge and more a slow normalization. This, alongside the steady rise in short-form video content, could be a breakthrough for local brands’ marketing strategies.

Underpinning all of this is infrastructure. Mobile internet usage rose by 12%, driven by nearly 8 mn new users, while fixed internet usage jumped by 36% with the addition of 1 mn new subscribers. Better access is not just increasing time spent online — it’s diversifying how that time is used.

For businesses, the implications are clear. Attention is shifting toward streaming platforms, short-form video, and interactive digital spaces, and strategies must shift with it. Social media remains a powerful channel, but the real window lies in understanding where engagement is accelerating, not where it has plateaued.

Egypt’s digital landscape has matured past the “emerging phase” — it’s now established, expansive, and deeply embedded (and dare we say, heavily relied upon?) in everyday life. The question is no longer whether Egyptians are online — it’s what that time online is ultimately building.