Published TV advertising rates in the Arab World depend on various factors such as the program aired, the TV channel and the time of day. Popular shows, such as Future’s “Superstar”, LBC’s “Star Academy” and MBC’s “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” have much higher rates than regular programming. Time of day is another factor; the peak times, associated with the highest rates, occur between 9 pm and 12 midnight. Hitherto, the Arab world lacks an objective TV viewing rating system that can indicate the audience size and market shares of each TV channel. As such, advertisers, ad agencies and TV stations rely on their custom periodical survey research. This, the Arab Advisors Group believes, is sub optimal as survey findings – commissioned by one party like a TV station - may not be acceptable to third parties such as advertisers.
The 50-page report, which has 50 detailed exhibits, compares and analyzes the advertising rates of various TV stations that target the Arab region. The TV stations covered include Free-to-Air satellite channels, Pay-TV operators and local terrestrial TV stations. The FTA channels are categorized according to their type of programming. The types of channels covered are General Entertainment, Western Entertainment, News and Children’s channels. As for Pay-TV, the report covers the ad rates of the three main providers in the region: The Arabian Radio and Television Network (ART), Orbit and Showtime. In addition, local TV channels were chosen from Jordan and Egypt.
“Arab Advisors Group’s analysis shows that TV advertising rates in the Arab region have actually dropped considerably since 2004,” Mr. Judeh Siwady, Arab Advisors Senior Research Analyst wrote in the report. “When averaged, the 2004 advertising rates of MBC, MBC 2, Future, LBC and Al Jazeera exceed those of 2005 by around 1,000 US$ for a 30 second TV commercial spot. In 2004 the average of the channels’ rates was 3,103 US$ while 2005 averaged 2,180 US$, a drop close to 30%. The Arab Advisors Group believes that this drop in rates is a result of the very tough competition in the FTA Satellite TV market,” Mr. Siwady added.
