MENA region ad spend seen down 11% in 2009

Advertising spend in the Middle East is predicted to drop by more than 11 percent in 2009, as the economic slowdown continues to impact most media sectors, a new report has said.

Media analysts ZenithOptimedia said new information about the weak performance of the industry globally during the first half had prompted them to revise downwards its growth forecast to -9.9 percent compared to 2008.

The report said the MENA region was expected to do even worse with a 11.4 percent contraction this year.

But ZenithOptimedia added that the second half of 2009 was "developing in line with predictions", demonstrating clear improvement in the rate of decline.

As a result it is forecasting the MENA region to rebound with a growth of 14.6 percent in 2010 and a further 10.5 percent expansion in 2011.

"Internet advertising [is forecast] to grow 9 percent this year, and reach 14.9 percent share of global ad expenditure by 2011," the report added.

It said it expected television, cinema and outdoor advertising to return to growth in 2010, followed by radio in 2011.

But ZenithOptimedia said newspaper and magazine ad expenditure will shrink every year over the forecast period, falling to 25 percent and 28 percent below their respective 2007 peaks by 2011.

"We are still confident that the second half of the year will be much less painful for the ad market than the first half, and expect the market to hit bottom before the end of 2009," analysts said.

"Ad expenditure has continued to grow in 27 developing markets this year, and we predict that number will nearly double to 52 in 2010. All developed markets are shrinking this year, but we expect nine to return to growth in 2010," the report added.

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