A leading Dubai-based real estate TV channel has pointed out that the current boom in the GCC’s construction and tourism sectors and the unprecedented high level of interest from property hunters across the globe had paved the way for niche real-estate TV to emerge as one of the popular mediums in the region.
Announcing this in Dubai Thursday, a top official of Alaqariya Real Estate TV, a leading independent station dedicated to real estate, tourism and leisure activities in the region, outlined that this healthy trend had contributed to strengthening its position in the media industry as well as attracting well-established international players, both in the print and broadcast media sectors, to explore the opportunities available.
“The future in niche television is here,” explained Eng. Mohammed Saleh, the Chairman of the Alaqariya Group. “Real Estate channels are here to stay. There will be a keen contest among them, as we all know that success attracts competition, but the winners will be those offering a rich mix of diverse and useful programming content.”
At the same time, Alaqariya announced the appointment of Group Plus as the channel’s exclusive Media Sales Representatives for the UAE region, extending its relations with Group Plus, which is already representing the station in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Nabil Kazan, Board Advisor to Al Aqariya pointed to a recent omnibus survey carried out by PARC which revealed that Alaqariya TV, within just six months of its launch, has scaled unprecedented levels of penetration in the region especially amongst English and Arabic-speaking viewers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. “Awareness levels in the UAE are at 58%, with at least two-thirds of the respondents watching the channel while KSA registered an average 50%, according to the PARC figures.” He added that viewers showed a markedly high preference for locally produced content, with programs produced in-house by the channel achieving an approval rating of 53 percent.
Advertising recall for Alaqariya TV also stood at an impressive 25.2 percent, placing the channel as the number one in the UAE and third in KSA.
“PARC’s recent study is a strong vote of confidence in our growing profile as the premier source of information on real estate and tourism-related developments,” added Kazan “This important factor has also helped Alaqariya TV evolve as the perfect media and marketing vehicle for both advertisers and viewers.”
Another major milestone revealed by Alaqariya TV Thursday was the fact that from this month, European and expatriates living in the Arab world will be able to watch Real Estate TV International in English with Arabic subtitles on the Hotbird satellite.
