Advertising expenditures in the region slightly decreased in 2013, with digital media making inroads into the market, according to a report in ArabAd Magazine.
“The total Adex [ad expenditures] in the region went down from $21.8 billion to $21.7 billion in 2013,” Elie Aoun, president of Ipsos MediaCT in the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan, wrote in the magazine.
The report said that while the drop was not large, it was especially significant considering that the number of media outlets in the region increased last year.
“The media counting on advertising expenditures for their survival are surely facing a problem,” it said.
While television retains the lion’s share of revenues, at 74 percent of total spending, Aoun said that digital media were growing at the expense of traditional outlets.
“Digital is really starting to get its share from traditional media, and the decrease on traditional media is an increase on digital media,” Aoun said, adding that while the digital share was not measured, his firm estimated it had grown 23 percent in 2013.
The largest market share was claimed by pan-Arab outlets, at 35 percent, a slight drop from 36 percent in 2012. Egypt remained the largest individual market, at 27 percent, dropping only 2 percentage points despite the ongoing turmoil in the country.
The UAE ranked third with a share of 9 percent, compared to 8 percent in 2012, reflecting the country’s healthy economy, according to Aoun.
“It also is one of the few markets where the Adex has increased from $1.8 billion to $2 billion,” it said.
Lebanon was in fifth place, with total expenditures of $1.448 billion, according to the report.
Aoun cited Iraq, in seventh place, as a market showing promise.
Syria slipped to the last place with only $3 million spent on advertising in 2013.
