Latest PARC figures show MENA ad spend drops by 4%

Latest PARC figures show MENA ad spend drops by 4%

Jul 27

Another day and more ad spend figures, analysis and commentary is released.

Latest figures out from PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre), show advertising expenditure between January and June this year at $5.85 billion, consistent with other recent reports in showing a year-on-year decline in ad spend, thus resulting in a 4% downfall, mainly as a result of the protests in Egypt and unrest in many other parts of the region.

In summary;

• Ad spending in Egypt, the biggest advertising market in 2010, dropped by half, downgrading it to 4th position among the top spending markets.  The UAE regained its top spending spot, as it acted as the region’s “safe hub” and reported a growth of 1% in that period.
  
• A growth of 8% was reported in Saudi Arabia, the highest among any regional market.  Lebanon posted a 3% increase in spending, whilst Kuwait and Qatar reported a 3% drop each, with Bahrain plummeting 22% and Jordan 19%.
  
• The 3 top spending sectors were communications, toiletries and government sector, with all reporting year-on-year decreases of 3%, 8% and 12% respectively.   Real estate is also still struggling to recover, plunging a further 29%.  On the positive, the food sector was up by 16% and shopping malls and retail stores increased by 10%.
  
• The top 3 regional advertisers in order of spending are: P&G, Unilever and Pepsico.
• TV holds 57% of all media spend is down 4%, newspaper spending decreased 7% and magazines increased by 7%.
• The outdoor industry continues to show growth – 2%  this period, to a total spend of $256 million.  No split is given between traditional OOH and digital at this time.
  

Overall, the general outlook in the PARC report remains positive, and despite the economic crisis of 2009 that has slowed regional advertising, two major components of the economy in the region, oil and tourism, continue to drive the region forward.  The feeling is that further recovery will be seen in the next period of reporting.

To read the detailed analysis, with charts and tables, the full report can be downloaded here.

Note: PARC calculate spend on the published rate card and do not account for incentives or discounts that advertisers may secure from media owners.