On the sidelines of "Arab Media Forum" organized by "Dubai Press Club"

Dubai, 7th May 2012: On the sidelines of the 11th annual "Arab Media Forum," organized by "Dubai Press Club", an in-depth report entitled "Arab Media Outlook" was published in its 4th edition - issued once every three years - and considered as a reference in the MENA region for Media companies and consumers, be they viewers, readers, listeners or bloggers, among others.

The "Arab Media Outlook - 2011 to 2015" presents an overview of the regional media industry and forecasts its future evolution. This edition of the report covers 17 countries across the region and is based on both a quantitative assessment as well as qualitative feedback from industry stakeholders.

The report highlights the status of Arab media institutions in general and broadcast media in particular; the latter part focuses on the content industry and monitors key habits, patterns and trends spreading across those 17 Arab countries, through the provision of data and detailed analysis based on independent studies conducted by Deloitte ME Global, which has undertaken research and analysis in key markets and was responsible for the studies included in the report. The report maps out the MENA commercial advertising market, with related budget allocation and split on Free-To-Air satellite TV, in addition to providing a closer look at New Media trends which display content through non-traditional interactive platforms such as the internet, smart phones, tablets and other devices.

The report is based on four main pillars:

1. Media & Broadcasting sector

2. Programming content

3. Commercial Advertising market

4. New Media

First: Media & Broadcasting sector:

In spite of the rise in the total number of channels, audience fragmentation does not seem to be threatening the position of top players in the market. Over the last few years, there has been a consolidation of the position of the top FTA players and a dilution of the smaller channels. With some new channels being launched, the large broadcasting groups are increasingly dominating the market. Viewership remains concentrated around a few leading channels and MBC Group continues to be the dominant broadcasting group in most of the region's key markets, and have consolidated its dominance across the same.

The study includes results from 17 Arab countries, namely: Oman, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Kuwait, Qatar, Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Bahrain, and Iraq. The study further indicates that

Broadcast Media in the region is still concentrated in 3 main markets: Egypt, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and UAE; as those 3 markets host nearly 50% of the Free-To-Air TV channels.

The report states that there are around 550 Free-To-Air channels in MENA, noting that MBC Group ranks on top in terms of viewership in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) due to its diverse offering of channels versus the other half of the top 10 viewed channels in the other countries.

The report shows that the channels belonging to MBC Group are the most prevalent and highest viewed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Morocco, as the Group channels ranked top 3 in terms of viewership in all of those countries.

At a closer look, MBC Group ranked in the first top 7 channels in Saudi Arabia. While in the UAE, MBC Group ranked in the first top 4 channels as the most viewed; and in the UAE MBC2, MBC Action and MBC1 ranked in the first top 3 among the top 10 list of channels, thereby outperforming some of the local channels; and MBC4 ranked 6th place while Al Arabiya News channel ranked 8th.

In Morocco, MBC Group achieved 4 ranks within the top 10 list of channels, including MBC4 ranking 2nd, MBC2 ranking 4th, MBC1 raking 6th and MBC Action raking 10th. However, in Egypt, MBC2 ranked 10th being the only western premium content channel that overtook other local Egyptian channels that broadcast a similar genre of western content.

Second: programming content in various genres, from entertainment to educational, newsworthy and documentaries:

The report indicates the ability of MBC Group to spread new content, segmenting it to different  audiences; reference is made to the "Turkish dubbed drama" genre, especially the soap "Noor" ("Gumus") that aired on MBC4, as it created a new phenomena in the region. A comprehensive report and study indicated that the series "Noor" was viewed by 85 million viewers in the Arab world, of which 50 million were females, in its final double-up episode.

As for Arabic dramas, the report confirms that more than half of the Saudi population watched the series "Tash 18" on MBC1, during the holy month of Ramadan.
And in the same context, regarding the most watched television programs in 2011, the report indicates that MBC1's talent show "Arab Idol" was the most viewed in Saudi Arabia, with 42% audience share of total population and 50% of the age group 10 to 14 years.

Moreover, the report points out that "Arab Idol" - was considered as the first choice in the UAE for the population ranging from 15 to 24 years old, surpassing political program popularity on other channels during the Arab Spring, and ultimately changing the nature of viewership trends & patterns toward political programs and news.

In the same context, other programs outperformed competitors, such as MBC1's "Sada Al Malaeb", deemed as the most watched Sports program in Saudi Arabia, ranking 3rd place in Saudi Arabia after MBC1's Arab Idol and "Kalam Nawaem".

Furthermore, the report points out that 2 out of 5 international Talent-spotting formats were broadcasted on MBC Channels (such as "Arabs Got Talent" on MBC4, and "Arab Idol" on MBC1), indicating an essential viewership trend and shift for the Pan Arab audience.

With regards to acquired western content, the report points out that MBC Group channels have acquired a wide range of content from international studios, primarily in the United States, some of which are exclusive (23%), some of which are non-exclusive (12%).  The report suggests that MBC Group affected the acquisition rights for competitors and other broadcasters. While the report also refers to the Group's internal production units that produce a number of programs which broadcast on the various Group channels.

Third: Commercial Advertising market:

The report indicates that, despite the crisis faced by the media sector beginning of 2011 during the Arab Spring, and despite not yet recovering from the effects of the global economic and financial crisis, the channels belonging to MBC Group were the least affected compared to other media organizations that witnessed a decline in commercial advertising revenues. The report added: "MBC channels continued to carry out its operations while competitors are suffering from serious internal changes...The Group was able to strengthen its position at the expense of its competitors where the other players suffered from the restructuring of certain internal procedures".

Fourth: New Media and non-traditional media platforms, smart phones & digital integrated-interactive applications:

The report highlights MBC Group's role within the New Media sector, indicating the new Video-On-Demand (VOD) "shahid.net", that provides viewers with the ability of a catch-up service. The report explained that the site, which was launched in August of 2011, has received 1.9 million users in January 2012, in addition to 6.6 million visitors and 24 million views.

The report shed further light about MBC Group's plans to further grow and introduce shahid.net's offerings onto other platforms soon, including smart phones and interactive TV sets, expecting an increased demand onto multiple platforms in the region, and thereby supporting the digital migration and diversification in the region.

-Ends- 

About MBC Group
MBC Group is the first private free-to-air satellite broadcasting company in the Arab World which was launched in London in 1991 and later moved to its headquarters in Dubai in 2002. Over the past 20 years, MBC Group has grown to become a well-established media group that enriches people's lives through information, interaction and entertainment.  Based in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, MBC Group includes 10 television channels: MBC1 (general family entertainment), MBC2 and MBC MAX (24-hour movies), MBC3 (children's entertainment), MBC4 (entertainment for new Arab women), MBC Action (action series and movies), MBC Persia (24-hour movie channel dubbed in Farsi) , Al Arabiya (the 24-hour Arabic language news channel); Al Arabiya Al Hadath (an extension of Al Arabiya News Channel)； Wanasah (24-hour Arabic music channel) and MBC DRAMA coinciding with the Group's 20th anniversary, and offers 24/7 Arabic Drama; the Group also includes two radio stations: MBC FM (Gulf music), and Panorama FM (contemporary Arabic hit music); as well as O3 productions, a specialized documentary production unit.   It has also several online platforms: www.mbc.net, www.alarabiya.net, and www.shahid.net, the first free VOD portal in the Arab world.

As of July 2011, seven of MBC Group's channels began to air in HD across the MENA Region; the channels are: MBC 1, MBC 2, MBC 4, MBC Action, MBC Drama, MBC Max and Al Arabiya News Channel.

For further information please contact:
Ruba Al Ayed
Group PR Manager
MBC Group
Mobile: +971 56 6038358
Email: ruba.alayed@mbc.net
Website: www.mbc.net

© Press Release 2012