Had it not been for unstoppable technological development transforming today’s communication modes, the world would still be stuck to radio, television and other traditional mediums for access to entertainment and information. It’s the rapid advancement in communication tools that have caused the two most important words entertainment and information to merge together into ‘infotainment’, and given birth to the popular concept of on-the-go infotainment accessibility. Unlike older days when people had little or no control over their media preferences, today’s world offers complete freedom to choose and use the entertainment and information mediums. As our infotainment content continues to be digitalized, like the newspapers, radio, TV shows, videos etc, we have increasingly more control over our media consumption.
When we look at the changing face of the global media consumption, the Middle East appears as one highlighted spot. The fact that a cluster of some of the world’s fastest developing nations constitutes this region is enough to give a reader a mental picture of its transforming media consumption landscape. Just like the skyscrapers emerging from the desert sands of the Middle East, the region’s media consumption is also undergoing a similar transition. Sources of information and entertainment are proliferating throughout the Middle Eastern region. Rising literacy figures in the region are also giving way to increased media consumption and use of a greater variety of mediums used.
Until 2003, the most popular entertainment and information medium was television followed in popularity by FM radio, Newspapers and the internet. The lesser consumption of Newspapers and the internet compared to television and radio was due to low literacy figures as use of these mediums demands greater comprehension and technical skills. Till 2003, the internet penetration in the Middle East was limited only to the young and well educated urban dwellers (the new remarkable internet growth figures are discussed below). The then news consumers in the Middle East tended to be more of skeptics.
Years flew by and the region’s media market kept growing exponentially. Middle East’s media markets grew highly dynamic and gradually competitive too. The popularity of satellite television surged higher than ever before with a continuous upwards trend. As the television boom set off, regional stations which were perceived as local dominated the international ones, but gradually the trend changed with the regional population taking slow shine to the international stations too. Internet, which until 2003 was of no more use than a source of information with very limited accessibility, grew fast in the Middle East making the region world’s fastest growing internet market. Today the role of the internet in the Middle East extends beyond merely a source of information to a great source of entertainment and socializing.
As the Middle East’s media market grew, consumers continued to get increasingly sophisticated with multiplying choices. Today the most positive factor signaling a greater growth of Middle East’s media market is its youth audiences which constitute a major and prominent segment of the region’s overall media consumers. Despite escalating literacy figures and increased media exposure, the popularity hierarchy of Middle East’s media remains almost the same with television taking the first place followed consecutively by newspapers, radio and internet. Although the internet penetration has been the world’s highest in the Middle East in the past decade, it still failed to surpass the more popular mediums which also saw an upward trend in popularity over the same period.
But having a quick look at the international media consumption, the Middle East appears to lag behind in the use of new technology. The global media consumption graph below shows the different mediums listed as per popularity. Interestingly enough, games hit the top of the list of these global media preferences with print amazingly taking the bottom place preceded by internet. Cinema takes the 4th place and digital radio 5th with digital TV securing the 7th place on the list of 10 mediums.
With the continuous transition of media in the Middle East, the region’s overall ad spend has flown to rocketing heights, a trend that’s strangely contrary to the global downward trend in ad spending that reigns globally today as a result of financial downturn. According to a study by ZenithOptimedia, advertising spending in the Middle East is expected to grow by 5.3 per cent next year, while spending in developed markets is expected to shrink by 2.9 per cent. “The Middle East’s expected performance is part of a broader trend of advertising spending in developing markets outperforming developed ones next year, growing by 7.8 per cent as a whole while North America, western Europe and Japan contract, the UK media agency’s quarterly report showed,” says a report in The National newspaper. According to the report, spending growth for the Middle East was forecast to be down by 20.6 per cent this year, but it is expected to recover to 10.3 per cent growth by 2011, more than the 9.8 per cent total growth for developing markets expected that year.
