Wednesday, Oct 20, 2010

Gulf News

Survey shows du leads the UAE spend chart at $3.28b

Dubai Outdoor advertising could have taken a hit during the global downturn, but now its signals look extremely favourable as more leading suppliers embrace Digital Information Displays (DID) and consumer demand for electronic interactivity rises.

The demand for digital outdoor is now growing rapidly in tandem with the wider growth in digital and new media.

The overall DID market is forecast to expand to more than fourfold during the next six years, from 2.23 million units in 2010 to 9.09 million units in 2016, according to market research firm DisplaySearch.

Advertising expenditure in the Middle East (Gulf, Levant, Egypt) reached a total of $6.5 billion (Dh23.9 billion) for the first half of 2010, according to IPSOS.

Trend

Egypt accounted for 15 per cent of total ad spend, followed by Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the UAE, with 10 per cent, 8 per cent and 7 per cent respectively.

Currently outdoor spending is fairly evenly split across the key travel, hygiene/house care, construction and communications sectors — Qtel is one of the biggest spender at $10.59 billion, and du leads the UAE spend chart at $3.28 billion, although its share of the overall market remains small compared with TV (57 per cent) and Newspapers (31 per cent).

Sharp, which is one of the big players in this segment, has developed a new technology that has enhanced the appeal of liquid crystal display (LCD), especially through the development of the 60-inch LCD panels with slim bezels of just 6.5 millimetres.

The Japanese giant has unveiled a 360-inch video wall in a bid to boost its current 10 per cent market share driven by its new-generation LCD panels and video walls.

“We are aiming to capture a large chunk of market share in this segment,” said Tom Shimizu, Director for Sales and Marketing, Sharp Middle East, on the sidelines of Gitex.

He said the response to our 360-inch video wall has been tremendous and a large number of potential customers have expressed their desire to install these video walls.

VIRENDRA SAKLANI/Gulf News

Growing sector

Sharp, one of the big players in outdoor advertising, has unveiled a 360-inch video wall in a bid to boost its current 10 per cent market share.

By Naushad K. Cherrayil?Staff Reporter

Gulf News 2010. All rights reserved.