Dubai: Advertising spending is set to focus more on digital platforms, according to industry experts.

Osman Sultan, CEO of du, said during a seminar at the Dubai International Advertising Festival that their expenditure on digital media which currently represents a bit more than seven per cent of their total spending, is expected to double over the next two years.

Mohammad Fawzi, the marketing director of BMW Middle East, also agrees that while the use of digital media is ‘behind everyone else' their spending of 10 per cent on digital marketing is set the increase. "One of the reasons why it is not as developed is because digital media is still not monitored compared to classical media," said Fawzi.

While advertising agencies are increasingly realising the importance of digital media, there is still a long way to go before it is considered a regular channel in advertising.

"There is definitely a shift but it's still very small. If you look at the spending in the Middle East, digital media represents only a small percentage of total expenditure," Raja Trad, CEO of Leo Burnett Group Mena, told Gulf News.

According to a report released by PARC in 2010, internet usage in the region has increased considerably over the past years. In the UAE, usage increased from 49 per cent 69 per cent between 2005 and 2009.

However, despite this increase, the report shows that spending on this medium was minimal compared to traditional media. Spending on television represented 62 per cent in 2010, while newspaper expenditure made up 27 per cent last year.

According to Simon Bond, chief innovation officer of BBDO/Proximity Worldwide, the digital advertising landscape has not gone through many developments or changes over the previous few years.

"In 2004, when I living in the UAE, I felt we were driving some really innovative digital campaigns. I'm a little surprised to be here now and see advertising is still around the banners, micro sites," said Bond.

The prominent role social media played in the recent uprisings in the Middle East is attributed to this rise in digital media prominence, according to experts.

"The digital platform is going to be growing at a rate far faster than any other media it's going to surprise everyone. Look at what happened with social media, at what is going on in media today and the role social media has played in this. We need to understand that things are going to grow at a rate that is really unexpected," said Trad.

The high youth population in the region and their fluency in online media and social media sites also attributes to the growing importance.

"It's important to understand what you can do with sites such as Facebook. There has been an uprising and the youth are aware of its power. For brands living inside that centre there is a lot of potential," said Bond.