Advertising in UAE to hit $2bn by 2010

Advertising spending in the UAE will hit more than $2 billion by 2010, with digital media forecast to take an increasing piece of the market share, a report said.

Advertising spending in the UAE grew from $869 million in 2005 to $1.3 billion in 2007, a growth rate of 54% which is the highest in the Middle East, a report by global media agency ZenithOptimedia found.

About 64% of all UAE advertising spending went to Arabic and English newspapers, television accounted for 16%, while magazines received 13%. Another 5% to outdoor ads, 2% went to radio commercials and 1% to cinema adverts.

If growth continues at its 2007 rate of 54%, spending in the emirate will reach over $2 billion in 2010, the report said.

Spencer Felix, exhibition manager at Abu Dhabi’s upcoming Signage, Imaging and Media trade show, said the report also found internet spending will account for 9.7% of world advertising expenditure in 2008, and 12.3% in 2010.

“In terms of where advertisers are expected to spend their money, in the future digital media is expected to reap the benefits,” he said in a statement.

Felix said the recession in Western advertising markets was not affecting markets in booming developing regions, including the Middle East.

“While the report downgraded 2008 advertising growth forecasts for North America and Western Europe from 4.4 percent to 3.8 percent, growth continues to strengthen elsewhere and the agency has increased its 2008 forecasts for the rest of the world from 10.9 percent to 11.1 percent,” he said.

The report found Russia was the top contributor to growth in global advertising expenditure between 2007 and 2010, with a growth rate of 92%, followed by China (61.5%), the Middle East (54.2%), India (52.2%), Brazil (46.6%) and South Africa (45.8%).