Advertising spend breakup in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is partial to traditional media. While the fact is well known to many, it is further highlighted in the recently conducted ‘Media Industries in the Middle East’ report.
The report indicates that about 80 percent of the total ad revenues in the region come through television and newspapers, which reiterates the preference of regional advertisers on traditional media platforms. However, it is interesting to note that while television advertising has increased marginally since 2010, ad revenues from newspapers have slightly gone down.
From the consumer’s perspective, time spent on print media amounts to only 10 percent, which is in discord with the amount of total ad it receives (30-40 percent). Despite the increasing usage of digital platforms among consumers, the adoption of digital ad spending is still slow. Ad revenue from digital media represents only about 10 percent of the total region’s advertising revenues.
In many ways, the allocation of these revenues underlines the inefficiency of ad spend allocation in the market.
Another discord within digital ad expenditure is seen between the use of smartphones and mobile ad revenues. 70 percent of online ads are watched on mobile devices yet only six percent of ad expenditure is dedicated to mobile platforms. Ads on mobile services are also more viewed than desktops. These statistics highlight the untapped potential of mobile advertising. The same trend is also seen for online ad spending on social media platforms such as YouTube, which are in the range of 30-40 percent; far lower than the Western world.
Across MENA, there is a strong preference among local spenders to continue using traditional platforms, especially outdoor advertising and newspapers, tendencies that seem stronger among government and semi-government organizations. Reasons for low ad spend on digital marketing mainly includes the lack of deeper understanding of digital marketing and what it necessitates, and limited internet connectivity in several parts of the region.
These statistics are part of Northwestern University’s and Doha Film Institute’s cooperative effort, named ‘Media Industries in the Middle East’, to better understand the media and communication landscape in the Arab world. This project involves region specific surveys about media usage in the Middle East.
