Turmoil in Egypt has severely dented total regional spend, but 2012 holds more promise.
Spending in the region's financial sector is reeling under pressure and has reported a five per cent drop during the first three quarters of 2011 - January to September.
Egypt's spend in the sector saw a steep decline of 51 per cent, while Pan Arab Media, with multi-market reach, plunged by 17 per cent.
Egypt had been the top spending market in 2010 and has since been replaced with Lebanon, which reported a 20 per cent surge in spend.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia managed decent double-digit growth of 10 and 11 per cent respectively.
Kuwait posted robust growth of 34 per cent, while Qatar made gains of 27 per cent. Oman was down by four per cent, while Jordan reported a nine per cent drop.
Spending on banking corporate advertising and loans remained flat, with a modest decline of one per cent each in these two categories.
General banking account services gained nine per cent, while credit cards reported a 19 per cent drop.
Investment services spending was unable to arrest its decline since 2008 and took another beating by falling 17 per cent during the period.
All of the major media are in the red, with only radio and outdoor in the positive.
Television is down by four per cent, but still managed to overtake newsprint as the top spending vehicle. Television shares 44 per cent of spend, while newsprint closely follows with a 43 per cent share.
Newspapers plunged by 11 per cent, while magazine are down by six per cent. Radio, with only a two per cent share, gained eight per cent.
The top five spenders during the period were Qatar National Bank, Banque Misr, Bankmed and the National Bank of Egypt.
Bankmed leads in TV spend, while the National Bank of Egypt is the regional top spender in newspapers. HSBC ranks first under magazines during the period.
Last year is likely to be in the red, mainly because of cautious advertising in the former top spending market of Egypt. With the issue of toxic assets being written in history pages, oil hovering around the $100 a barrel mark, and hopes of an improving political climate, especially in Egypt, 2012 is likely to see healthy and stable growth.
The ad spend is calculated on the media rate cards and does not account for incentives and discounts that advertisers may avail from media owners.
Shaharyar Umar Marketing director Pan Arab Research Centre, Dubai
© Gulf Marketing Review 2012
