Confidence in TV advertising across Middle East returns

Dubai: Corporate confidence in television advertising has made a strong comeback in the first two weeks of Ramadan across the Middle East compared to last year.

Shaharyar Umar, product manager at the Pan Arab Research Centre (Parc), said television stations which depend on Ramadan as a make-or-break viewing month for annual profits enjoyed a 15 per cent spike in ad spending in the first two weeks of the holy month.

The firm, which monitors spending in the media across the Middle East, found that ad spend on television in the first two weeks totalled $762 million (Dh2.8 billion) against the $665 million (Dh2.44 billion) in the same period last year.

In the UAE, this year's Ramadan-related spend on television in the first two weeks was 38 per cent higher than in 2009, according to Umar, though no actual numbers were made available.

This represents a significant surge from the situation last year when the UAE's television advertising plunged by 40 per cent against the corresponding 2008 numbers. This year, roughly, the "top 20 per cent of TV channels get around 80 per cent of the total ad spend — spending is not uniform across all channels," Umar told Gulf News.

Keeping pace

Ramadan advertising across all major monitored media vehicle stood at $1.4 billion in the region in 2009.

Generally speaking, tradition in the region has held that TV channels that report highly successful Ramadan viewing numbers see higher month-on-month revenues that continue well into the following year after securing audiences through a host of well-watched television programmes.

"It is said that television channels that perform better during Ramadan carry their ratings for months to come," he said. "Hence, it is in all likelihood that the industry will perform better in the region as well as in UAE if spending figures are taken as an indication.

"The fundamentals of the advertising industry in the region are very strong and as sentiments keep pace with the fundamentals we will see significant growth that will be reflected in the ad spend."

There is no better time to boost TV revenues than during the holidays when families take in more recreational pursuits such as watching favourite shows or new programmes at home. "Consumers' daily activities undergo a paradigm shift during the holy month of Ramadan in a region that observes flexible and shorter working hours and people utilise it for socializing and family gatherings," said Umar. "This lifestyle makes people spend more time on television and television ratings during the period shoots up.

"Brand owners in the region do their best to capitalise on this phenomenon and launch many campaigns as television accounts for around 57 per cent of the total ad spend on major media."

Egypt replaced the UAE to became the top country in the Middle East for television advertising revenues in the first six months of 2010 . The "UAE maintained a top spending vanguard position for many years in the region, [but] was replaced by Egypt in first half of 2010 with a spend of $708 million," said Umar.

Egypt took the lead after reporting a 65 per cent spike in advertising revenues in Ramadan 2009, and maintained its momentum well into the first six months of this year as well.

Top five brands

• Telecom, food, government advertising, motoring and toiletries are the top five sectors in the region in television media for the first two weeks of Ramadan in descending order of their spend.n The top five brands in the region for the same monitored period are Etisalat Egypt, Mobinil, Zain, Chevrolet and Mobily.n The top five most advertised programmes during first two weeks of Ramadan 2010 in the region are: Sheekh Al Arab Haman, Aayza Atjawaz, Tash 17, Al Kabeer Qawi, and Bab Al Hara 5.

Source: Pan Arab Research Centre