Digital Advertising Will Acquire a Larger Share of the Pie during Ramadan

No doubt that Ramadan has always been the month which delivers the greatest impact to brands. Season of 2021 is most likely to be exceptional this year due to the continuation of COVID-19 pandemic and the gradual shift in the viewership experience and habits, from traditional mediums to VODs.

Chief Marketing Officers Magazine (CMOs) sat down with Islam Gamal, Sales Director of DMS-Egypt to talk about his expectations for this season of Ramadan and how marketers can make their brands stay on top of their consumers’ minds, DMS’ plans for expansion in the Egyptian market, and many other questions which will be answered by him through the following interview...

Clients will not be shifting the majority of their budgets from TV to digital, yet digital platforms will gain more acknowledgement and activity than normal.

Egypt will be one of the countries charting new levels of growth in 2021.

How did Covid-19 impact digital media consumption in Egypt and the MENA region?

As we all know by now, the world is undergoing constant change. That being said, the changes which the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about have not been easy to adapt to, nor were they changes that anyone could have expected, or prepared for.

Today, individuals are living in unprecedented times, shopping in unexpected ways and from various viewpoints, thinking and acting in unusual ways as well. Digital connectivity during COVID-19 is no longer about traditional communication and the search for information; it has become a lifeline for using data, consuming content and engaging in digital applications by individuals, governments and businesses to ensure continuity of economic and social activities, in light of social distancing and complete lockdowns across most countries. The greatest commonality across the MENA region (Egypt included), is that COVID-19 forced companies to start adapting to new ways of advertising, aligned with a surge in digital media consumption.

In the beginning, when the pandemic brought everything to a standstill, most companies exercised great caution with their spending, as the future spelled uncertainty. Then marketers gradually started to invest minimally, while developing their understanding of how digital is rapidly shaping the future and how much more beneficial it could be for them, when compared to traditional offline mediums (TV, Outdoor, Radio, etc.).

This however does not mean that they stopped spending offline. On the contrary, yet it paved the way for brands seeking better allocations for their investments, in a safe and smart manner.

I would say the difference between Egypt and the rest of the MENA region (GCC in specific) is mainly the timeframe gap, between COVID-19 being called out in the GCC on FEB ’20 and then in Egypt around MAR/APR 20’). The MENA region went into complete lockdown a good 6 weeks before Egypt followed.

Amid the shifts in consumers’ behavior towards media consumption due to Covid-19, and the boom achieved by Digital across the entire pandemic so far, what are your expectations for Digital ad spend during this season compared to last year (With Ramadan coinciding with the pandemic for the second year in a row)?

The Egyptian consumer’s attitude, behavior, and purchasing habits have completely changed, with a considerable amount of changes here to stay even post the Pandemic.

COVID-19 forced companies to start adapting to new ways of advertising, aligned with a surge

in digital media consumption

E-Commerce revenues for Egyptian merchants have doubled since COVID-19 was declared as a

global pandemic by “WHO”.

We can identify significant changes in consumers’ purchasing patterns, with a remarkable shift toward E-Commerce. Since the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 is a global pandemic on March 11, E-Commerce revenues for Egyptian merchants have doubled.

There are no solid or clear givens yet to quantify or forecast an exact ratio of increase for digital expenditure; however a huge growth can be expected for this season across the market.

In 2020, we can confidently say that a huge amount of effort and proactivity went into guiding brands to test and explore multiple advertising solutions and marketing tools which they had missed out on in the past.

This in turn instilled a greater sense of safety and encouraged them to start investing. Accordingly, we are seeing new brands stepping aboard for Ramadan 2021.

Do you expect digital advertising to acquire a large share of TV revenues this Ramadan? Or will TV remain the king, as lockdowns and social distancing policies continue to create a surge in TV viewership?

We would like to believe that digital advertising will indeed acquire a larger share of the pie during Ramadan 2021, in terms of YOY growth in Egypt.

This would be due to the higher levels of engagement and adaptability which social platforms, VODs, in-reads and short-form content provide to users. TV will always remain an inherent part of Egyptian culture, and the “king” when it comes to viewership habits - Watching dramas across channels, while enjoying family gatherings during the holy month. In a nutshell, I believe Ramadan 2021 will be tricky period where clients will not be shifting the majority of their budgets from TV to digital, yet we will see digital platforms gaining more acknowledgement and activity than normal. With diversified and creative executions on digital platforms, clients will be moving ahead more confidently, with lesser fears about spending.

Do you believe that the preference of a large segment of audiences to watch their favorite content on social media or VOD platforms must be accompanied by a change in the ideas or convictions of marketers and the way in which they approach their Ramadan marketing strategies?