Dubai : Figures released at the Arab Media Forum’s opening day suggest that overall media revenues in the UAE dropped by $14 million in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period last year.
The two-day forum was inaugurated today by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, with Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League.
By comparison, media organizations in Saudi Arabia reported being $2 million in the black for the same period.
Ranked first in the Middle East – which overall reported $28 million in the black for the first quarter -- the UAE’s media profit figures were still impressive, said panelists, given a world economic downturn that is killing traditional newspapers in the United States.
In total, newspapers in the UAE took in $245 million in the first quarter as compared to lesser media players such as television which reported $40 million in revenues, and magazines that reported $4 million in income.
Radio in the UAE only took in $6 million, according to the forum.
Revenues have dropped as those in the media industry struggle to remain relevant to 300 million residents, many of whom are below the age of 25 and are not part of a generation especially fond of newsprint.
The next generation of consumers is demanding instant electronic news and entertainment online via laptops and handhelds, forcing longstanding media organisations to improve content and diversify dissemination methods.
In a panel session, Gulf News Editor in Chief Abdul Hamid Ahmed said that the sweeping shift has created a crisis for older print media.
“There is a disaster happening in the United States, newspapers are dying,” he told conference delegates in Dubai on Monday in a packed ballroom at a Palm Jumeirah hotel. “Of course we now have a Google generation. That generation has nothing to do with newspapers.”
Ahmad noted that to survive, “we have to switch from (being) a newspaper to a news provider”.
More than 1,000 people – 300 from abroad -- have registered for the two-day conference who will hear roughly 60 speakers.
Mazen Hayek, Marketing Manager of MBC group, said one of the problems in the media industry in the Middle East is the concentration of advertising in only some of the outlets.
He noted that there are more than 450 satellite channels in the region but noted that 50 of them control about 95 per cent of television advertising.
Another challenge, he said, is that advertisers and media professionals view “advertising as an expenditure rather than as an investment…we can’t get readers unless we have that level of investment”.
Azzam Al Dakhil, CEO of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group, said: “We are in need in the Arab world of specialised content,” noting that targeted and focused content allows print for electronic media to “attract advertisers”.
Dakhil pointed out that traditional media players face a new force, telecommunication companies seeking out new subscribers for revolutionary news and entertainment delivery tools of the future such as Mobile TV, live broadcast programming sent to mobile phones.
For example, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has worked to bring mobile TV to new UAE. Subscribers to the new service will be able to secure television programs, including news.
Arab Media Forum continues Tuesday and features one of industry’s top investigative journalists, Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize winner who will deliver the morning keynote speech.
(Source: Xpress By Derek Baldwin, Senior Reporter)
The two-day forum was inaugurated today by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, with Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League.
By comparison, media organizations in Saudi Arabia reported being $2 million in the black for the same period.
Ranked first in the Middle East – which overall reported $28 million in the black for the first quarter -- the UAE’s media profit figures were still impressive, said panelists, given a world economic downturn that is killing traditional newspapers in the United States.
In total, newspapers in the UAE took in $245 million in the first quarter as compared to lesser media players such as television which reported $40 million in revenues, and magazines that reported $4 million in income.
Radio in the UAE only took in $6 million, according to the forum.
Revenues have dropped as those in the media industry struggle to remain relevant to 300 million residents, many of whom are below the age of 25 and are not part of a generation especially fond of newsprint.
The next generation of consumers is demanding instant electronic news and entertainment online via laptops and handhelds, forcing longstanding media organisations to improve content and diversify dissemination methods.
In a panel session, Gulf News Editor in Chief Abdul Hamid Ahmed said that the sweeping shift has created a crisis for older print media.
“There is a disaster happening in the United States, newspapers are dying,” he told conference delegates in Dubai on Monday in a packed ballroom at a Palm Jumeirah hotel. “Of course we now have a Google generation. That generation has nothing to do with newspapers.”
Ahmad noted that to survive, “we have to switch from (being) a newspaper to a news provider”.
More than 1,000 people – 300 from abroad -- have registered for the two-day conference who will hear roughly 60 speakers.
Mazen Hayek, Marketing Manager of MBC group, said one of the problems in the media industry in the Middle East is the concentration of advertising in only some of the outlets.
He noted that there are more than 450 satellite channels in the region but noted that 50 of them control about 95 per cent of television advertising.
Another challenge, he said, is that advertisers and media professionals view “advertising as an expenditure rather than as an investment…we can’t get readers unless we have that level of investment”.
Azzam Al Dakhil, CEO of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group, said: “We are in need in the Arab world of specialised content,” noting that targeted and focused content allows print for electronic media to “attract advertisers”.
Dakhil pointed out that traditional media players face a new force, telecommunication companies seeking out new subscribers for revolutionary news and entertainment delivery tools of the future such as Mobile TV, live broadcast programming sent to mobile phones.
For example, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has worked to bring mobile TV to new UAE. Subscribers to the new service will be able to secure television programs, including news.
Arab Media Forum continues Tuesday and features one of industry’s top investigative journalists, Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize winner who will deliver the morning keynote speech.
(Source: Xpress By Derek Baldwin, Senior Reporter)
