Battle for media advertising dollars still hot

Dubai: As the preferred platform for advertisers, newspapers in the UAE accounted recorded $425 million (Dh1.56 billion) worth of ads during the first half of the year.

This represent a decline from the $478 million recorded during the same period last year, according to Parc (Pan Arab Research Centre) figures.

Magazines managed to stage a recovery in pulling ads. They took in $112 million in advertising which accounts for 16 per cent of total ad spending in the region.

Television attracted a marginal increase to total $65 million, accounting for a 9 per cent share of the overall amount spent.

Trouble with TV

The traditional supremacy newspapers have enjoyed is not at risk.

"The fragmentation in TV viewership is a planner's nightmare. The abundance of TV channels is disproportionate for the existing population base and confusion prevails on viewership habits," said Rajeev Khanna, board member at the International Advertising Association (IAA) UAE Chapter and group advertising manager at Gulf News.

"With the exception of a handful of regional channels, the vast majority are fighting hard for bits and pieces of viewership."

With advertisers getting choosy and budgets restrained, there continues to be a plethora of media outlets trying to win the advertising dollars by slashing their rate cards.

Michael Nederlof of Aegis Media Mena says this is a legacy issue and not an offshoot of any recent events.

"The media is still offering preferential rates, but this is not about the ‘Arab Spring' or the economy," said Nederlof.

"It is about an industry whose rates are not correctly underpinned by reliable research, in terms of circulation and reach."

"This creates a huge difference between gross and net rates in the Middle East."

Away from the established platforms, digital opportunities for advertisers are coming to the fore in an assured manner. Advertisers stand to gain here.

"Competition between media owners is creating an opportunity for advertisers to demand more cost-effective solutions across multiple mediums, including growth channels such as mobile marketing," Nederlof added.

Better media content

"We are enjoying an increase in better media content, especially from international owners that have localised their content according to the target audience. This has been done organically or through acquisition, the biggest being on-line when Yahoo! purchased Arabic portal Maktoob, a sign that the region's digital market is serious about its own potential."

Satish Mayya of BPG Maxus reckons this is indeed the case. "Clients have started looking at cost-efficient responses on their spending and we have seen growth in digital spend based on this," he said. "The media that delivers more [to the advertiser] will attract more budgets."

Clearly, the battle for supremacy among the competing media platforms will not be settled any time soon.