London, 22nd May 2012.

Adnative Ltd launched its inaugural Middle East Media Forum at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower, bringing together exclusive media partners and event sponsors, Zawya and the Saudi Research and Publishing Company, alongside senior brand leaders from HSBC and Inmobi, to create a Middle East media discussion platform.

"We have found that along with China, the Middle East is now being viewed as one of the key growth markets which brands are looking to extend their global messaging into. This is due to a number of different factors", said James Ketteley, Commercial Director of Adnative Ltd in his opening speech. "As one of the world's fastest growing travel destinations, with an ever expanding transport network, growing tourism and the re-emergence of the business sector, the Middle East is an increasingly important region for companies looking to reach affluent, well educated and international consumers."
During the Forum, we heard from our speakers about the consumption of traditional media, with print being still very strong across the market, especially in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.  Digital media and especially mobile is growing fast with a 107% mobile subscription and penetration rate in the Middle East according to mobile specialist InMobi who spoke at the event. HSBC's Global Head of Media sees the growth of the region as a fantastic opportunity for brands to become involved due to its buoyant economy, the newly found freedom of press and state investment in media, along with  the high penetration of a digital and mobile savvy youth population. With 344 million Arab speakers in the region and only 1% Arabic content, governments are realising the power of media and are investing heavily in the industry.
 
One of the event sponsors, Zawya, the leading online business intelligence provider focusing on the Middle East and North Africa, focused on how to attract the business elite. They showcased how the Arabic web is the fastest growing region in the world at 2,260% growth  between 2000-2010 which is faster than India, China, Brazil or Russia.  Speakers at the Middle East Media Forum also addressed the exceptionally large expat community in the region, the proportion of which is currently over 80%, as well as the rapidly growing youth population (80% under 45 years old) which may well be responsible for the large mobile phone penetration (UAE, 222%) and according to Cisco's digital networking forecast, the region will count 7.1 billion mobile users by 2015.

The Majalla Magazine, a publication of Saudi Research and Publishing Company, and also a sponsor of the event, gave interesting insights into the complex and largest advertising market in the region, Saudi Arabia, and discussed the continuing demand for print media alongside TV advertising. The Middle East Media Forum concluded with a panel discussion moderated by 'Simply Abu Dhabi': The audience of top media planners, buyers and clients were able to gain further insights by addressing speakers directly on a number of issues, but most importantly the lack of reseach available for the region. With the forthcoming launch of the latest EMS Middle East Survey, Adnative Ltd clients can find out more about detailed analysis, rankings and schedule evaluations across the Middle East as well as individual markets.
 
To give some perspective on the potential of the Middle East as an advertising marketplace, despite being down by some 3% over 2010, last year the market was still worth around $18.8bn and is currently forecast to grow by 4.1% to just under $20bn this year. That is growing faster than North America (3.7%) and significantly faster than Western Europe (1.7%). This would give the Middle East a 4% market share of the estimated $491bn spent globally by the end of 2012, according to the 2012 Consensus forecast which is an estimated composite taking into account the forecast figures from ZenithOptimedia, Magna Global, GroupM, and WARC, as reported in Admap Magazine January 2011.
"A large proportion of our clients are already planning media campaigns across the Middle East; however, we aim to increase the awareness of the market's potential as well as establishing a platform for open dialogue among our clients, agencies and media owners", states Adnative's Ltd Marketing Manager, Evelyn Kogler, "and with the evolving media market across the region, it is important to continue this dialogue in the format of future media forums."

-Ends-
 
About Adnative
Adnative Ltd, owned by Publigroupe, is part of a network of highly experienced and professional media sales representation companies across Europe with offi ces in France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK. We provide boutique, personalised sales solutions with many years of experience, expertise, multimedia, know-how and a proactive, entrepreneurial approach to indigenous media sales.
 
Adnative Ltd has a powerful portfolio of business titles in Japan, Germany and the Netherlands: The Nihon Keizai Shimbun (The Nikkei), the world's largest circulating financial newspaper, based in Japan, The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeiting (FAZ), the leading quality newspaper in Germany, as well as the FD Mediagroep, the Netherlands' leading source of information for business-minded people.
 
Adnative Ltd is your direct gateway to Middle East media: Our extensive Middle East portfolio represents a range of leading premium media across all sectors, business, finance, luxury, lifestyle and sports. So whether you would like to target the affl uent in-flight consumer, reach a mobile audience, or plan across outdoor, online and print media; Adnative Ltd offers bespoke advertising solutions. We work with leading titles such as The National, Al Ittihad, The Khaleej Times, Sport360, and Asharq Alawsat along with premium business sites, such as Zawya.com and menafn.com. With media owner representation of Abu Dhabi Media, Saudi Research & Publishing Co, ITP Media lifestyle and business, and Zawya, to name a few, Adnative Ltd is your specialist in media owner representation in the Middle East. 
 
For further information please contact:
Evelyn Kogler
Marketing Manager
Tel:             +44 (0) 20 7592 8321     
evelyn.kogler@adnative.net
www.adnative.net/uk 

© Press Release 2012