The media industry offers varying discounts on its advertising card rates, which differ from publication to publication, issue to issue and from client to client. Our survey bases itself on the official card rate of various publications listed here. Considering the discounts offered and the bundle deals struck, it would be safe to say the real spend could be around 50 per cent of the figure arrived based on card rate.
Automobiles
The automobile sector is the undefeated champion among the print media ad spenders for 2011, but a few surprising trends emerge here. For the first time since we began this survey, the auto ad spend has declined by five per cent, unlike last time when it rose by 19.6 per cent. Within the sector, Suhail Bahwan Automotive finally manages to knock off the Saud Bahwan Group from its top spot to capture the #1 position with a spend share of over 20 per cent in the sector.
Changing norms
The top spot in the sector's ad spend is occupied by Nissan with a share of 11.2 per cent, displacing Toyota to the #4 position. Toyota's ad spend for 2011 dips markedly by 57.2 per cent to RO438,373. In the last survey, the brand occupied a share of 14.5 per cent which drops to 6.5 per cent this time around.
Powering On
Hyundai manages to take on the runner up spot by increasing its ad spend by 10.5 per cent from 2010 levels to touch 6.9 per cent. There have been a significant number of new car launches by the automaker in Oman in the recent months and the brand is also looking to enhance its market share in the sultanate that may result in higher ad spends going forward.
BANKING
Some things are a given when it comes to predicting ad spends, so it is no surprise that banks continue to hold the second position in 2011, as it did in the last survey. Bank ad spends registered a 13 per cent growth over the last year, as compared to the 9.4 per cent rise in the previous year, driven significantly by new offers in personal finance. BankMuscat clearly dominates the total ad spend share in the sector owing to the size of its assets but this share slips to 35.1 per cent from 45.2 per cent that it contributed to the sector in the last survey.
Taking strides
Bank Sohar is pushed down to the #4 position from the third spot it occupied in the previous survey by Bank Dhofar which almost doubled its spend to claim the #3 position this year. OAB is knocked off from the top five as OIB occupies #5 spot.
Recently, it was announced that HSBC Oman and OIB will merge to form HSBC Bank Oman that will result in the third largest bank in terms of assets in the sultanate. This could very well lead to HSBC featuring higher up in the top ten charts in the next survey.
Ramping up spend
Among the foreign banks, Qatar National Bank moves into the top ten spenders in the sector at #9.
Appliances & electronicsConsumer delight
The introduction of nifty gadgets like tablets, 3D LCD televisions and new products from premium brands helped appliances and electronics segment move up one spot to reclaim the #3 position in 2011, a position it occupied two years ago. The overall spend increased by a sizeable 24 pc to RO4.86mn, with the top ten alone accounting for RO3.41mn. For a second consecutive year, Muscat Electronics and SARCO maintain their positions in top ten that saw three new entrants with the exit of Omasco, Meta Galaxy and OHI Electronics.
Some constants
SARCO stays at the runner up spot it occupied last time with a total share of 12.4 per cent as the retailer's Samsung brand maintained a strong presence in the market with demand for its 3D TV offerings and galaxy tablets reigning high.
Swaps
Mustafa Sultan Electronics edges up to the third position displacing Genetco to the fourth, even as it powers on with the launch of a new outlet in Oman to enhance its presence.
Clinics & hospitals/Eye laser centres
Slowly and steadily this sector edges up one spot to occupy the #4 position after stagnating at the fifth position for two consecutive years, as a slew of new hospitals and clinics opened up in the sultanate in 2011. While the total ad spend has increased to RO3.91mn, this growth of 13 per cent is much lower than the previous year's increase of 30 per cent. KIMS Oman which was not even among the top ten in last time's survey, emerges as the top spender in the sector, contributing RO254,736 or 7 per cent towards the overall sector spend.
Great shakeups
Aster Hospital slips to the #9 position from the runner up spot it held last year. With plans for massive investments towards expansion that include 15 new medical centres by 2015, Aster is perhaps channeling its resources towards this roadmap instead of trying to capture the limelight for the time being. On the other hand, Apollo Medical Centre moves up six spots to #2 while Badr Al Samaa remains at the third position.
Rising Star
Being a new entrant in the sector that has introduced services such as vascular surgery to the market, Starcare Hospital seems to be gaining much publicity featuring in the #6 position in the top ten.
Telecom
Telecoms drops two places to the #5 position among the top print media ad spenders for 2011 despite the numerous new offers that hit the market. Focus of operators in the sultanate turned towards channelling their investments to enhance their networks, while price cuts were incorporated amidst stiff competition in the industry. Total ad spend in the segment plummets 29 per cent to RO3.01mn from a year ago while its share stood at 3.5 per cent of the overall spend in the industry compared with a share of 5.19 per cent it occupied in 2010.
The big guns
It is no surprise that operators with big pockets like Omantel and Nawras have continued their robust ad spends through 2011, but this time, Omantel takes the maximum share of ad spend in the sector that stood at 47 per cent, following its merger with Oman Mobile to claim the #1 spot. Nawras slips to the runner up position with a share of 37.6 per cent. FRiENDi moves up two notches to occupy the #3 spot while the TRA steps up its advertising efforts and moves up six places to the #4 position in this survey.
Evolving landscape
Call rates could further be slashed in the coming days, as VoIP services have opened and rumours of new regulations to broaden the horizon of telecom operators in Oman circulate the market.
Food & beverages
Constant appetite
Despite aggressive marketing efforts of segments like mineral water, the food and beverages sector stays at #6 in 2011's survey while its ad spend drops 17 per cent. This compares to an 84 per cent increase in the total spend it witnessed in the last survey. With an aim to contain inflation, retailers were asked to keep prices stable despite escalating costs of commodities. This may have resulted in a cautious spend for the sector. Yet again, Oman Oasis occupies the #1 position, followed by A'Saffa Foods that displaces Barzman to reclaim the runner up post.
Catering to all
It is noteworthy that A'Saffa Foods stepped up its marketing efforts in 2011 as it underwent corporate rebranding and set up its own meat processing plant. The group has also recently launched its seafood product range
Evolving trends
The sector's share in the overall spend has fallen to 2.93 per cent from the four per cent share it occupied in 2010. The new entrants in the top ten include Naranjee Hirjee and Oman Foods International. Oman Agriculture Development moves up three spots to the #3 position in the top ten despite keeping its ad spend levels at the levels of 2010.
Financial services
With a share of less than 0.5 percent compared to a three per cent share last year, it is surprising that this sector has maintained its #8 position for a second year. At one point this industry contributed as much as 6.6 per cent towards the total spend in 2007. Companies in this sector concentrated on maintaining low levels of non-performing loans apart from stepping up their hiring spend and increasing wages. Such expenses perhaps left little room for much propagation in the media that resulted in a 17 per cent drop in its overall ad spend.
Improving Spend
For the third consecutive year, Global Investment House is the top spender in the sector with share of 31 per cent followed by National Finance which moves up one notch from last year with a total share of 12 per cent. This company has seen robust profits for most of fiscal 2011 that perhaps paved the way to enhance its marketing and advertising efforts during the year.
Construction & Building Materials
Strong foundation
The sector slips one place further down from last year to the tenth position in the 2011 survey. There is a marked slip in the spending spree in 2011, showing a negative trend of eight per cent contributing a share of 2.7 per cent towards the overall spend. Unlike last year, this year shows a considerable number of new entrants in this category, who have displaced old players like Al Bilad Building Materials and Gulf Muscat United.
The chart war
Al Maha Ceramics, who never featured in the survey for the last two years, topped the chart with spend going up by 17 per cent. Noticeably, Galfar Engineering & Contracting moved up by four places from the last year ranking, to be featured in the third spot, after bagging big infrastructure projects from PDO and also the Batinah Expressway project.
Changing spots
A new entrant in this category, Al Mutawaa Trading Company bags the second position in the top ten spender list, contributing nine per cent of the sector's total ad spend survey. Al Nukhba Cement Products moves to the eighth position in 2011 from #10 last time around.
Real EstateProperty sneak-peak
This is one sector that failed to rise further up in 2011's survey, despite the efforts of real estate companies and agents to market their new products, as it remains at the 11th position for a second consecutive year. Ad spend in the industry increased 27 per cent but its share in the overall spend remained almost unchanged at 2.56 per cent compared with year ago levels. With global markets sentiments still bearish, it would be interesting to see how spending trends pan out for this sector in 2012.
Sweeping wave
Despite retaining the top position in the sector's spend, The Wave Muscat has drastically cut down its ad spend by 39 per cent to RO407,152 in 2011 from a year ago. But this project has new offerings like a marina and three new hotels in the works that could step up spend to promote its offerings in the coming days.
Education
Knowledge defined
The sector finds itself back in the top 20 in this year's survey, moving up ten staggering notches with the spend going up by 118 per cent in 2011. Over the last year, public and private sector institutions have focused on offering more courses to enhance the higher education and vocational training system that seem to have translated into an increased ad spend. The education sector contributed around 2.13 per cent towards total ad spend in 2011.
The turmoil
It is generally seen that private institutions dominate the ad spend in this sector, but this time around Sultan Qaboos University claims the top spot with a total share of eight per cent. This is a substantial increase from the marginal share 3.8 per cent it enjoyed in 2008.
New Spends
Azzan Bin Qais International School is a new entrant in this category, coming into the runners up spot with a spend share of three per cent. Well known names like Nizwa University do not make it to the top ten this time around.
Furniture & Furnishing
Elegant touch
The furniture and the furnishing sector drops down one notch in the survey to occupy the #13 spot this time around as consumer appetite remained muted through the year when it came to investing in new homes and refurbishments. The sector witnessed an eight per cent drop in its ad spend that fell to RO1.42mn despite its contribution towards the overall spend remaining constant when compared with 2010 levels.
Churning out
Pan Emirates Furniture, moves up two places to reclaim the top position it held two years ago. Danat al Khaleej Furnishing, last survey's top spender, does not find any mention in the top ten this time. International Golden Furniture retains its second spot. Towell Bed Centre, placed at the seventh position last year, moved up to three places to bag the fourth spot with its ad spending increasing by 74 per cent.
New entrants
This year the sector sees three new entrants featured among the top ten namely Quick Hands Trade at #5,
Marina Exotic Home Interiors at #8 and Al Besat Al Hariri at #9 positions.
Fast food
After holding its position at the 15th spot for two consecutive years, the fast food sector moves one notch to #14 in the 2011 survey. The sector saw a 24 per cent increase in the ad spend compared to 2010 levels as top spenders like McDonald's ramped up their corporate social responsibility initiatives. Total ad spend in this sector is around RO1.32mn, which contributes 1.56 per cent of the total ad spend.
Standing tall
Pizza Inn holds on to its second position for another year, while KFC is pushed down four spots to the #9 position in the top ten as it curtailed its spend by 68 per cent in 2011. Another known player, Dominos, drops three spots to the last position in the top ten.
Crackers
Established fast food brand, Subway, does not find a mention in the top ten list this year. Instead another well known fast food operator, Papa John's makes an entry at the eighth spot.
Information technology
With a large number of infrastructure and government projects in the works, demand for services like ERP implementations and system upgrades has been slowly on the rise. This perhaps pushed IT services providers to increase their presence in the media limelight taking their ad spend up by 46 per cent in 2011, placing it among the top 20 spenders for the first time since we began this survey. At #15, IT has contributed around 1.40 per cent towards the industry's total ad spend in 2011.
Game changers
The top position is occupied by Muscat Electronics contributing 26.3 per cent towards the total ad spend while the well-known player SARCO comes in as the runner up with a total spend of RO177,69 or 15.06 per cent share.
TRAVEL & TOURISM
Promoting destinations
In 2011, this sector came under the government's focus and saw much impetus as officials focused on reviving inbound travel following the Arab Spring. The aggressive promotions and marketing efforts of travel and tour operators and the government agencies alike, takes the sector up eight notches to occupy the #17 position in 2011's survey. Share of the sector towards the total ad spend stands at 1.23 per cent this time as compared to 0.95 per cent in the last survey.
Great Spends
The ad spend by travel and tourism increased by 33 per cent in 2011 from year ago levels. Top spend in the sector comes from Alwan Travel & Tourism contributing a share of 18 per cent towards the total spend of the sector. The marine tourism operator Al Ainain comes in second contributing RO105,139 to the sector.
New Focus
Operators like Travel Point have beefed up marketing efforts to feature in the top ten, but this operator has recently begun targeting its customers through the social medium, a trend that many others are soon to follow.
Petroleum Products
Despite the government spend adding a boost to the oil and gas sector, this sector drops four notches in the 2011 survey to the 18th position. Fuel marketing firms in the sector instead stepped up efforts to expand their network in the sultanate. Total spending in the sector registered a drop of eight per cent in 2011. But in the recent months, oil and gas companies have signed new international projects, which will make it interesting to see the sector's ad spend in 2012.
Down fall
Shell Oman Marketing Company grabs the top spot by displacing last year's largest spender Occidental Oman by contributing 16 per cent towards the sector's total ad spend. Occidental instead moves to the fifth position with its overall spend dropping down to RO78,046 in 2011 from RO166,100 in 2010, contributing eight per cent of the sector's total ad spend in 2011.
POWER & ELECTRICALS
Companies in this segment strived last year to meet the ever increasing consumer demand that resulted in higher investments in new power projects and maintenance work at the transmission and distribution centres. This perhaps left little room to keep up robust ad spends in the sector resulting in its drop to the 19th position from #16 last year. The total ad spend for this sector dropped by 15 per cent from 2010 and touched the RO838,023 mark in 2011, contributing only a minimal of 0.98 per cent of the total ad spend.
Spending spree
Mazoon Electricity Company moved up to the top position in the top ten list, having a spend of RO159,750, contributing 19 per cent towards the total ad spend of the sector.
Muscat Electricity Distribution Company slips one notch from the top spot in 2010 to the runner up spot, contributing 16 per cent of the total ad spend for the sector.
The upswing
Rural Areas Electricity Company moved to the sixth position in 2011 from the third position in 2010, their spending going up by seven per cent. This is perhaps due to their efforts to showcase their new landmark projects on renewable solar energy.
Watches
Watching time
The watches segment slips two notches further to #20 in this survey despite the launch of new watch brands like Urwerk and Patek Philippe in Oman. The total ad spend for the sector has dipped by nine per cent to reach RO781,332 from a year ago. Khimji's Watches still retains its top position in the top ten list from 2010, contributing 20 per cent in the sector's total spend.
Top spenders
Al Qurm Jewellery more than doubles its ad spend in 2011 to occupy a spend share of 11.57 per cent taking it to the runners up spot from the #4 position it was placed in last time's survey. Gallery Argan moves to the third spot from the #2 position in the last survey.
The descend
Despite the launch of new special edition watches in 2011, well known watch brand Mistal moved two notches down from the sixth position in 2010 to the eighth position in 2011, contributing three per cent to the total ad spend for the sector.
Petroleum Products
Fuel trends
Despite the government spend adding a boost to the oil and gas sector, this sector drops four notches in the 2011 survey to the 18th position. Fuel marketing firms in the sector instead stepped up efforts to expand their network in the sultanate. Total spending in the sector registered a drop of eight per cent in 2011. But in the recent months, oil and gas companies have signed new international projects, which will make it interesting to see the sector's ad spend in 2012.
Down fall
Shell Oman Marketing Company grabs the top spot by displacing last year's largest spender Occidental Oman by contributing 16 per cent towards the sector's total ad spend. Occidental instead moves to the fifth position with its overall spend dropping down to RO78,046 in 2011 from RO166,100 in 2010, contributing eight per cent of the sector's total ad spend in 2011.
Perfumes
This sector drops down three notches to the 16th spot in 2011's spend survey with its total ad spend dropping eight per cent to RO1.14mn from a year ago. This year perfumes contribute a share of 1.35 per cent towards the industry's spend, almost consistent with the 2010 ad spend share with mostly Arabic perfumes dominating the top positions. New entrants like Capital Stores make it to the top five in the list.
The upturn
Swiss Arabian, who stood fifth last year, grabs the top spot in 2011's survey, due to new product launches while last year's top spender Al Awadi Gifts & Perfumes slipped to the #7 position. Well-known names like Muscat Pharmacy does not even feature among the top spenders.
Big cut
Unlike last year, Ajmal Perfumes slips down two places, to the sixth position due a 59 per cent decline in their ad spend from a year ago.
Hotels and Resorts
Game changers
The sector has moved up one position to #9 in the 2011 survey, with the hospitality sector increasing its ad spend by 27 per cent as it worked in tandem with the tourism industry to promote its services. This year the hotel apartments steal the limelight from well known names in hotels and resorts. ast year's highest spender Al Nahda Resort and Spa slipped to the #2 position, making way for Manam Hotel Apartments. Only The Chedi, Muscat and the Crowne Plaza from the premium line of hotels make it to the top ten.
Small yet Big
Interestingly, smaller hotels and resorts are spending more money on ads than the established names. Well known names like Grand Hyatt Muscat, Shangri La's Barr al Jissah Resort and Spa did not even feature in the list of top ten ad spenders. Smaller names ruled the roost, with lesser known Manam Sohar Hotel Apartments occupying a massive share of 47 per cent in its total spend.
New Entrant
Sifawy Hotel makes it to the top ten despite debuting as late as November 2011. This hotel is a part of the 6.2mn sqm Jebel Sifah project and is the first of five hotels planned for the marina complex.
Shopping centres
Reducing the spree
For three consecutive years now, this sector has maintained its #7 position, but its total spend declined by 18 per cent this time around. The supermarkets and hypermarkets incurred higher overhead costs as hiring ramped up. The sector's share towards overall spend stood at 2.86 per cent compared with 3.66 per cent it occupied last year. Lulu and Capital Stores continue to dominate the sector's spend occupying the first and second positions respectively.
Emerging trends
So far this year, this segment has seen at least three new supermarkets opening up and existing players expanding their presence, a clear indication that ad spend levels in sector for 2012 could revive as the competition heats up.
Moving around
Salman Stores manages to reclaim the third position it occupied in 2010's survey, with a spend share of 11 per cent while Al Fair is pushed down to the fourth place with its ad spend share dropping to nine per cent from 10.7 per cent a year ago.
© businesstoday 2012
