AMMAN -- Advertising expenditure in 2006 hit a $215 million record high, a 33 per cent increase from the $162 million reached in 2005 and double the 2004 spending, according to International Advertising Association, Jordan Chapter (IAA Jordan) .
"Such growth represents a huge contribution to the country's gross domestic product," IAA Jordan President Mustapha Tabba said Tuesday.
Major players in the pay- out for ads last year were the telecommunication sector which led with $31.4 million followed by banking and finance at $23.6million.
Service companies came in third place as their spending totalled $18.7million, entertainment and leisure ranked fourth with $16.8million and property and building trailed at $10.6 million.
"Without the first sector, the rest are expected to lead the market for a growth at around 25 per cent this year," Tabba indicated.
"The marketing and communications industry is now widely considered to be one of the key sectors driving economic growth in the country and the region as a whole," he said.
Increased competitiveness in the marketplaces in all sectors, was the crucial factor behind the high growth in local ad spending last year, the IAA Jordan president added.
Spending on advertisements before the emergence of Mobilcom in the telecommunication market was much lower than present. Tabba, attributed the surge to "high competition between the three major players in this market: Fastlink, MobileCom and Umniah".
He highlighted the telecommunications, banking and real estate sectors for achieving high levels of growth during the past two years, and predicted "the telecommunication sector would achieve a slight growth in 2007 compared to the 2006 levels" .
At the regional level, Jordan maintained a three per cent market share of the total advertising expenditure within the region, compared to the United Arab Emirates which led with 18 per cent, Tabba indicated.
Saudi Arabia was in second place at 15 per cent followed by Kuwait and Lebanon with 7 per cent each. Also ahead of Jordan were Egypt with four per cent and Qatar three per cent, while Bahrain trailed at two per cent ahead of Oman and Syria with one per cent.
Jordan came seventh among Arab countries in the region, in the advertising spends per capita indices, with growth from $28 in 2005 to $38 per capita in 2006. United Arab Emirates topped the list with $372 per capita then Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt and Syria with $264, $237, $179, $98, $43, $26, $4, $2 respectively, Tabba said.
"We seek to enhance the local spending on advertisements for the coming three years to reach the current levels in Lebanon," Tabba said.
Based on the Ipsos ad spend-audit figures, Tabba said, daily newspapers were rated as the number one media channel used in advertisement in 2006, controlling 77 per cent of the total advertising market. Weekly newspapers, television channels, outdoor advertising, radio and monthly magazines followed with close to 5.5 per cent, he added.
TV experienced decreases in advertisement spending level, leaving a space for radio channels to grow from $403,000 in 2000 to $11.7million in 2006, according to the IAA Jordan figures. Tabba attributed such a shift to the emergence of many radio stations and the fierce competition between them.
Monthly magazines experienced a similar trend with a jump from $882,000 in 2000 to $10.3 million in 2006, he added.
Professionals within the industry are today among the highest paid segment of the labor force in the Kingdom, according to Tabba.
"This line of work is currently in the highest levels of demand in the region," and thus development of Jordanian talents will allow for a huge export potential in this specialised profession, specifically in the GCC countries, he said.
"For Jordan and our industry, the future looks very bright; we expect 2007 to carry on the same trend of high growth levels particularly with the recent and expected emergence of new privately owned TV stations in the Kingdom," Tabba said noting, "the real growth is yet to come".
By Khalid Neimat
© Jordan Times 2007
