Advertisement spending in Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries rose significantly during the first nine months of 2004 as it set to cross the $3 billion mark by the end of 2004.
Khamis Al-Muqla, a member of the world council for the International Advertising Association, estimated the growth in advertisement spending during the period at 45 percent, adding that the first half posted a growth rate of 50 percent.
“GCC spending on advertisement has been growing continuously as it reached $2.8 billion in 2003 from $607 million in 1993 and we hope the figure will cross $3 billion mark by the end of this year,” he said, according to Arab News.
Advertisement sales during the first nine months have already amounted to $2.7 billion versus $1.86 billion during the same period last year. Arab satellite channels captured the lion’s share of advertisements this year as their revenues from advertisement went up by 55 percent from $870 million to $1.347 billion this year.
In Saudi Arabia, advertisement spending rose from $342 million to $473 million during the reporting period, recording a growth rate of 38 percent.
Bahrain posted the highest growth rate - 42.76 percent - in advertisement spending in the GCC, followed by Qatar with 42.16 percent and the UAE 40 percent.
Kuwait was fifth with 26 percent after Saudi Arabia while Oman was last with 22 percent increase. The amount of spending in the UAE was estimated at $428 million and in Kuwait $268 million. (menareport.com)
