8 predictions for ‘Arab Media Outlook (digital) 2019 report’

The year 2011 gave new hopes and expectations from social media to the Arab world at large. Social media truly became mainstream and went beyond Facebook as people and brands started experimenting with other social platforms like Twitter and YouTube, thanks largely to the Arab spring and increased adoption of mobile computing devices. The region had more than 1.5 million active Twitter users at the end of 2011.

Against this backdrop and on the sidelines of the 11th annual “Arab Media Forum,” organized by “Dubai Press Club” organized in August 2012, an in-depth report entitled “Arab Media Outlook”. The report is in its 4th edition – issued once every three years – and considered as a reference in the MENA region for Media companies and consumers, be they viewers, readers, listeners or bloggers, among others.

Interested readers can download the digital section of the ‘Arab Media Outlook – 2011 to 2015’ (pdf). In my view, the study had some interesting takeaways, which gave me the confidence to make some predictions too.

4 takeaways from 2012 study

Spending: Slowly and steadily, regional corporates and international brands in the region are allocating an increasing share of their marketing spend to digital. Investors are viewing online business models with a renewed confidence.

Infrastructure: GCC governments are actively nurturing the growth of the digital ecosystem by setting up technology parks and incubators. Digital advertising spend still remains fairly low across the Arab region due, in part, to the varying levels of ICT infrastructure, networked readiness, smartphone penetration and limited talent pool (on the agencies and advertisers side).

Reach: Penetration of smartphones and tablets in the region is on the rise, driving digital consumption “on the go”, which isn’t significantly different from what we see in other markets across the world. But someone should explain to me how a mean value of ‘32 apps per smartphone’ in Arab World isn’t just crazy? A whopping 80% of these apps have Arabic content, which remains a challenge for global brands eyeing the market and an opportunity for content agencies.

E-commerce: UAE is leading the e-com space with over 8.1% respondents having bought online. Dubizzle.com and souq.com lead the bandwagon but the market isn’t as evolved as in Europe or India, especially in industries like books, fashion and music.

Mobile app usage in Arab region

8 predictions for next report in 2019

 

1.         Closed/niche groups in social platforms

With the Arab World getting into rapid adoption mode with social media and digital culture, privacy and exclusivity will remain a concern. Facebook’s decision to open their doors to kids below 13 and the open gate approach to privacy in the Twitter world may not go well with conservative Arabs living outside of the urban cities of Dubai and Doha.

This will result in a spurt of new closed groups within existing platforms like Facebook and outside of it like ASW (A Small World). Exclusivity is always a winner in the Arab World.

2.         Small business investment in social

You must have noticed how small and home business units have started using Facebook as a store front while focusing on images and responding to price queries via private messages. Normally, they try to stay away from ads (paid media), which is probably the right approach for them. Expect these small businesses’ to start testing the waters of Facebook ads, lured by two things – 1) success case studies largely from bigger brands and, 2) need for more ‘likes’ in short time.  Expect Facebook to keep this bottom of the pyramid happy.

As big b2c brands would spend 5-10% of overall marketing budget on paid digital media, small business houses depended on Facebook will spend 25-30% of marketing budget on digital.  B2b will continue to try LinkedIn for outreach but find more value and efficiency in SEM and Email marketing campaigns.

3.         More integrated digital brand campaigns

The line between search, social and display will become thinner in 2013. By integrating all aspects of digital campaign, brands will embrace the ‘transmedia storytelling’ approach closer than ever.  Public relations agencies will try getting into digital space to please their clients while creative digital agencies will try their hand in public relations to serve a platter to clients.

Expect more requirements for data visualization, infographics and creative images than fancy things like augmented reality and custom QR codes. It’s all about how you build a story when your audience is living in an attention deficit economy (remember – 32 apps per smartphone!)

Mobile apps will increasingly be leveraged as part of the brand extension mix of regional media. This would also mean more English language apps and streaming content from international channels.

4.        Crowdsourcing including Arab Wikipedia

The year 2013 will see semetic language wikis like Arabic wiki getting more attention, expect Arab wiki to become a movement. Wiki Foundation is targeting increase active editors in priority geographies (India, Brazil and Arabic language region) by 800 active editors in 2012 with focus on quality contributors that can help build small-to-medium sized projects and add diversity to larger projects rather than pure quantity.

5.         SoLoMo

Social Local Mobile (SoLoMo) will become the next big thing in Arab marketing because of three key opportunities: Reach, Relevance and Results. Arab marketers will seek ways to Social and mobile web convergence, and how it could benefit SMB, big brands and consumers. That said, I’m not sure if traditional mobile marketing will find more money from the marketing kitty.

6.         Mobile payment

We can do well by keeping a close eye on Apple’s iOS 6 adoption and Facebook’s new mobile app range, which will change the equation here. Starbucks accepting payment via Square in Dubai?

 

7.         E-com jamboree

Small businesses now depended on Facebook store- fronts, normally seen selling ladies jewelry and abayas, will try our offerings like Shopify.com, literally jumping into the e-com bandwagon with few clicks and an investment as little as USD 50 per month. This will again compliment their spending in social ads.

8.       Social Business models will take another year to reach the Arab World. Expect 2-3 good case studies by end of 2013. Social media will continue to be a sales/marketing function before organizations start thinking internally. Social Business will remain the holy grail and business houses will create shared value with employees, partners and customers.

The predictions here are my personal views after reading the report. Do you have more such predictions for the Arab digital world? Do share!

Note: The “Arab Media Outlook – 2011 to 2015” presents an overview of the regional media industry and forecasts its future evolution. This edition of the report covers 17 countries across the region and is based on both a quantitative assessment as well as qualitative feedback from industry stakeholders.  Like any other study report, readers are advised to use the takeaways as indication of a ‘larger trend’ than for the absolute numbers.

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinmail

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *