DUBAI, 7 December 2005 -- They might annoy some readers and audiences but media company owners love them. Advertisements are good for media business; the more the better. It is known that in a free market enterprise, sales do not drive profits anymore but ads. While the challenge in Western media might be to decrease the influence of advertising money on the content, in the Arab world the challenge is not limited to that. The main challenge it seems is audience research.

At yesterday's session on modern advertising challenges at the Arab and World Media conference organized by the Arab Thought Foundation and Dubai Press Club, a panel of media managers and advertisers discussed the issue at length. Prince Faisal bin Salman, chairman of Saudi Research and Publishing Company, began by pointing to a number of factors that influence advertising decisions including whether a publication can afford to compromise its integrity and independence for the sake of an advertiser. For any respectful publication the answer is obvious but that is an issue that editors face regularly. Another factor that perhaps the audience is not aware of is the issue of measurability.

According to Prince Faisal, the credibility of current data on audiences is questionable. This is critical for media companies because how can they convince advertisers to buy ad space when they don't know who and where there audience is. There is also the issue of multisegmentation. "We must cater to different audiences," said Prince Faisal. He said that newspapers have become more like daily magazines, trying to give a little of everything to everyone. "It's more profitable to be a local rather than a pan magazine. Local newspapers are more successful than regional," said Prince Faisal.

He gave an example of how SRPC had good results with Eqtisadiah newspaper that focuses on business. The audience in Saudi Arabia is much more sophisticated now and they want news and reports that addresses local issues. With revenue from sales dropping, more and more of it is being generated from advertisement, and there is a growing demand from the advertisers for a targeted audience, according to Prince Faisal.

Zafar Siddiqi, chairman and CEO of CNBC Arabiya, went on to point out the negative effect of this lack of research on Arab audience. "0.9 percent of world ads is spent in the Arab world," said Siddiqi. There is opportunity here for a growing advertising market, which is under invested, but before that happens there is a need for a scientific measure for ads and research. He said that there is a strong need for the media owners to form a regulatory body in order to provide credible information to the advertisers. Mike Gillam, chief media buyer for Unilever Middle East, couldn't agree more. "We have no idea who we're selling to. There is no reliable data on the audience and without information I can't invest," he said. Gillam said that there have been several attempts by the GCC Association of Advertisers to measure the audiences but all failed because they could not agree on the measuring tools and methods. They also do not have an official body in the GCC to be able to carry out their work.

However, Prince Faisal pointed out that while there might have been many efforts for establishing measurability, there was no sustainable initiative and each company continued to work on their own. "Lets set a task team, a timetable and a deadline to achieve that," he urged.

Admitting there is resistance by some media outlets and others because some businesses will be damaged, he said it is still important to push for that.

Answering a question on online publication and its effect, Prince Faisal said that in the Arab world we don't have information as credible as that in the United States on online consumption, but it is limited. "I don't think that online pages of a printed publication is a threat to it, it is more complimentary than an alternative," he said. The online editions so far have not been profitable although they had some effect on circulation but not much, according to Prince Faisal.

By Maha Akeel

© Arab News 2005