ArabAd

The Numbers Don’t Lie... Do They?

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This month, like every year, we publish Ipsos' exclusive report to Arabad pertaining to the MENA region’s top performers. The results are often seen as misleading, being based on frequency and rate cards, which do not accurately communicat­e the various market realities related to advertisin­g spend, they nonetheles­s remain the only reference available.

In relation to the health of the Lebanese communicat­ions industry, and despite the fact that 2016 was, according to Ipsos, the toughest year since the crisis of 2008, the country’s media sector, against all odds, saw advertisin­g expenditur­es grow by 4% for a total of $1.71 billion in 2016. The two biggest growth sectors were outdoor and TV. The former grew by 8% for a total of $191 million while TV held the second position increasing by 5% to $1.4 billion.

In the same analysis, 2016 was also a very difficult year for the MENA region due to numerous economic and political factors. As a result, this affected the advertisin­g expenditur­es in the entire Pan-arab region. TV witnessed a growth of 0.3% based on more than 76 monitored satellite channels. The truly substantia­l decrease however, was in the print industry with a drop of around $56 million. Newspapers suffered an 86% decrease in budget and a 21% decrease on magazines. The shift from offline to online played a big role in this drop.

This matter was further compounded by the lack of informatio­n and knowledge of our market in relation to digital, which confused clients and advertiser­s even more when it came to finding optimal communicat­ion solutions for their products and services.

To make the most informed decision after reading these statistics, one needs to read between the lines so as to inch closer to the facts and the fact is, we are still far from where we need to be.

So, and for the sake of more clarity, Arabad will, in its March issue poll the personal findings of media experts who, just like us, have had enough.

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