The Arab advertising market has during 2011 grown by 4% The Arab advertising market, which counts television as its major contributing segment, has during 2011 grown by 4%, according to the Pan Arab Research Centre (PARC) monitoring company and 9.5% , according to Ipsos Media CT.
However, two of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region's major advertising agencies, Memac Ogilvy and Omnicon Media, have told Abu Dhabi's The National that in reality the regional advertising spend has fallen by 10% or more in the past year, largely due to volatile markets caused by the Arab uprisings.
The gap in findings between monitors and agencies is, says the latter, reportedly down to the reality of fees agreed versus the rate card published by broadcasters and print media for advertising slots. In a tougher market, negotiations are more likely to lead to discounts, especially for loyal customers.
Accepting the figures reached by media companies and their advertisers are confidential, PARC stands by its New Year report that the total advertising market in the Arab world was worth US$14.3 billion in 2011.
"We have been reporting the figures every single day since June 1976 using a methodology that is applied worldwide," Sami Raffoul, founder and general manager, PARC, is quoted as saying in The National.
Indeed, compared to the $17 billion value put on the 2011 MENA advertising industry by Ipsos Media CT, PARC's estimate is conservative.
Ipsos has, however, increased its measurement criteria in the past year, including new media outlets in many markets for the first time. This, it says, has led to the reported growth, rather than a real increase in the regional advertising spend.