ISLAMABAD: As the beat of a traditional drum echoed through a crowded cattle market in Rawalpindi, a trader guided a massive bull through a circle of spectators while young men raised smartphones to capture every movement.
Among them was 18-year-old Hassan Masood, who carefully filmed the scene for his YouTube channel, weaving through buyers, traders and livestock to capture close-up shots of the animal and the festive atmosphere at Rawalpindi’s Eid Al-Adha Bhata Chowk cattle market.
Across Pakistan, sprawling temporary livestock markets established ahead of Eid Al-Adha are increasingly doubling as social media stages for young content creators chasing viral videos, followers, online recognition — and a good time. The lively markets, packed with brightly decorated animals, loud music and rows of food stalls, have become fertile ground for short-form videos.
Muslims around the world mark Eid Al-Adha, one of the two most important festivals in Islam, through prayers and the ritual sacrifice of animals, turning the days before the holiday into one of Pakistan’s largest seasonal livestock trading periods.
Authorities in major Pakistani cities establish large cattle markets on urban outskirts every year to manage the influx of traders and buyers ahead of the festival. Vendors travel from rural areas with bulls, cows, goats, sheep and camels, while temporary security checkpoints, parking areas, veterinary facilities and food stalls are set up to handle the crowds.
Alongside the livestock trade, another economy now thrives at these markets: digital content.
“As you might have seen the drum beating, we showed all that to our viewers too, the ones who support us,” Masood told Arab News after filming content for his YouTube channel “Local Pindi Squad,” which has more than 3,500 subscribers.
“The market season benefits us too,” he said. “Whenever we move around among the crowd, people who are watching often come up to us and ask to be included in the vlog. Then we feature them, and that’s how the whole system keeps going.”
Pakistan has one of the world’s youngest populations, with nearly 64 percent of its roughly 240 million citizens under the age of 30, according to United Nations population estimates. The country also had around 116 million Internet users and nearly 80 million social media user identities by late 2025, according to DataReportal figures. Platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Instagram have become major sources of entertainment and income for young Pakistanis seeking online visibility.
Eid cattle markets thus offer the perfect mix of spectacle, humor, bargaining and emotion to attract viewers online for teenagers and young people who could be seen at the Bhata Chowk market carrying selfie sticks, livestreaming crowd scenes and filming cinematic reels of prized bulls.
Seventeen-year-old Muhammad Bilal said he and his friends had come partly to film videos of a bull named “Athra,” which has gained attention online because of its size and aggressive behavior.
“Since it’s the Eid season... everyone wants to see such animals,” Bilal told Arab News. “When you upload animal videos, we get a huge number of views and can reach a much larger audience.”
The teen, who usually creates content about cars and motorcycles, said the transformation of cattle markets into digital hotspots had accelerated rapidly over the past few years.
“If you go back four or five years, you wouldn’t see vloggers or people walking around making videos of animals,” Bilal said.
“But now that technology has advanced, people are making videos, taking selfies and recording themselves.”
Muhammad Muzammil, who runs a TikTok account under the name “Muzammil Funny,” said one of his videos featuring a lamb drew significant online attention last year and encouraged him to create more Eid-related content.
“I have again made a video with a ram and will upload it,” he said, hoping it would help him gain more likes and followers this year.
