Dubai: Even digital ads can take a bit of a stumble — for the first time in four years since it became the fastest growing advertising medium in the UAE, spending took a dip in November compared with a year before.
Based on industry data, there was a 14 per cent decline in digital ad spend in the UAE that month. Even then, the category still managed to come up with a 21 per cent increase for the first 11 months of 2016 against the same period in 2015. (Digital ad spends have been rising well above the overall ad industry average since 2012 in this market.)
Part of the reason why digital ads declined in November could be because advertisers are moving away from straight-up banner and other ad forms to far better ways to capture audience attention on digital/social media platforms. This is taking the form of ads that show up on smartphones, as well as by “native advertising”, whereby an ad message is seamlessly integrated into a news portal.
And these digital ad spend formats are “not fully monitored in this part of the world,” said Satish Mayya, CEO of BPG Maxus, the media buying house. “The digital landscape is becoming more complex than ever — we are seeing a majority of UAE digital spends moving towards categories such as programmatic advertising, mobile, native and content.”
More direct factors have also influenced digital ad spend growth in recent weeks. Categories such as watches and jewellery, telecom services and banks saw reduced exposures on digital platforms. On the plus side, real estate ads seem to be shifting from traditional platforms such as print to digital options. And in keeping with the holiday season, leisure and entertainment too went heavy on digital as did the F&B sector. The health and beauty brands continue to go big on digital. (Interestingly, health care-related ads also cropped up strongly in November, up 30 per cent from a year ago.)
Whether the November performance marks a full-scale transition towards more well-defined digital options or was a case of advertisers taking a breather will be known when the December and January data are out.
As for November’s ad tally across media categories, the numbers make for dire reading. Newspaper-based ad placements were down more than 20 per cent from the previous month, while radio stations across all language streams suffered a double-digit loss from the November 2015 numbers. Arabic language stations suffered the least decline, by 10 per cent, while English ones had the highest, by 21 per cent.
But the local TV space had something to cheer about — November’s tally represented a slight 2 per cent gain in the number of commercials broadcast, while in spending terms this was higher by around 10 per cent. (But growth in pan-Arab TV spend was flat.) Industry sources say even with the traditional spike in ads during December — and this year, Dubai Shopping Festival 2017 kicked off with an early start — overall ad numbers for last year would still be in a deficit compared with 2015.
Consumer confidence is yet to make a strong reappearance, apart from the spending on stray discretionary purchases.
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Where advertisers will go with their digital ads
* Search and social media — in the form of Google and Facebook — will remain at the top of preferred media vehicles by advertisers. Advertisers are quite optimistic that overall digital spends will return to high growth rates this year. But growth will be based on factors such as the trajectory economic growth will take.
* The depressed consumer sentiments seem to be telling on automotive brands (down 22 per cent in November from a year ago) and on watch and jewellery labels, a dip of 10 per cent. Real estate brands continue to lag behind in the digital realm, falling 21 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
