3rd Arab TV & Media Outlook (2007-2013)

TV Market Data / Arab TV & Media Outlook (2007-2013)

March 2010 | External Link

Dubai Press Club (DPC)
3rd Arab Media Outlook (2007-2013)
Countries covered: Pan-Arab, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Quatar, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen

According to DPC's "3rd Arab Media Outlook", the Arab television industry is unique to the rest of the world, largely due to the fragmentation of its audience across a region of approximately 7.5 million square kilometres, a population of over 250 million people and an extensive number of spoken dialects. The broadcasting industry is currently dominated by the free-to-air (FTA) sector, with close to 600 channels available on free satellite. The penetration levels of FTA satellite are particularly high in the Levant, while terrestrial is the most popular platform in North Africa and pay-TV is strong only in a few Gulf countries, most notably the UAE.

Projections for Arab Region TV revenues, 2007-2013
Pan Arab TV Revenues 2007-2013
Source: External Link Dubai Press Club

FTA TV, and in particular pan-Arab FTA satellite, is the dominant sector in the Arab broadcasting industry, and yet overall advertising revenues across the TV sector in the Arab Region remain limited to approximately $1.5bn in 2009, split between nearly $900m for pan-Arab satellite and just over $600m for local channels. For a market with a population of over 250 million - making it almost the same size as the USA, which saw annual advertising revenues of $53bn in 2009- this figure is very low. Even when compared to other developing markets, the Arab TV industry suffers significantly from an undervalued advertising market. For example, Brazil’s TV advertising market was worth $7.4bn in 2009. This puts the Arab Region on par with a country like Turkey, whose population is just 70 million but TV advertising is worth over $1bn.

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PDF Document DPC's Arab Media Outlook (2007-2013)