Malaysians Top Searches For Ramadan on Yahoo!

Kuala Lumpur, 25 AUGUST, 2011 – While Muslims all over the world are celebrating the holy month of Ramadan with spiritual reflection, prayers and fasting, Yahoo! revealed what Malaysians are looking for online and found out that break-fast food (menu and schedule), music and green packets were among the top searches for Ramadan.

“Beyond searches on religious practices, food and music which are integral to Ramadan celebration, findings from Yahoo! Search Trends reveals that while the Indonesians were keen on cultural aspect of Ramadan, Malaysians were keen on both the religious, as well as some practical aspects during the holy month. This is the season for green packets in Malaysia and it was also well reflected on Yahoo!,” said Zul Rejab, Editorial Manager, Search Content Analysis.
Yahoo! Search Trends top Ramadan searches are:

1. Food: A big part of Ramadan is the practice of fasting and equally important is the breaking of fast. Malaysians searched on a variety of topics related to break-fast which include food menus (includes recipes from cooking television program 'Ketuk Ketuk Ramadhan'), recipes and buffets. The maximum spike was observed for break-fast menus and schedule which observed a spike of 10,100%. Infact, Yahoo! has recently launched Ramadan Mubarak in Indonesia http://id.custom.yahoo.com/ramadan, a microsite dedicated to provide relevant information for Indonesian Muslims during the holy month. The one-stop location features blog posts by the creative blogger Dian Ina, special recipes from nutrition and culinary blogger Budi Sutomo, as well as travel maps and fasting schedule.

2. Music and Cards: Malaysians showcased their love for music with searches on Hari Raya songs (spiked nearly 8,000%), lyrics and free downloads. Noticeable was the spike on Siti Nurhaliza's Hari Raya songs.
This season Malaysians also turned online to look for cards for their near and dear ones. Hari Raya card searches spiked nearly 4,500%.

3. Practices: Ramadan is a spiritual occasion for performing regular religious duties during the fasting month. One of the most common practices of Ramadan is Quran recital and evening prayers. Searches on the prophet’s journey, Quran verses reading, information on religious leaders, prayer schedule and charity were visible on Yahoo!.

4. Green Packets: Searches on the announcement of the green packets and Hari Raya bonus was amongst one of the most interesting findings on Yahoo!.

In Singapore, Yahoo! observed interests around Ramadan greeting cards, bazaar, goodies, breakfast timings, music and decorations. The television programme ‘Ketuk Ketuk’ garnered a lot of interest in Singapore and observed a spike of 1,800% in Yahoo!. Trends on Yahoo! reveal that both Malaysians and Singaporeans seem to be fascinated with the ‘Ketuk Ketuk’ show.

Yahoo! Search Trends aggregates millions of searches performed every day across Yahoo! properties to give the pulse on what people are thinking and talking about. Searches represent the people and what matters to them most; from fleeting moods to entrenched attitudes of Internet users across the world. We’ve been extremely successful in sifting through searches for trend spotting, historical insight, forecasting projections, and big picture analysis.