Video and Mobile Advertising to Drive the Online Advertising Spending in UAE: Ken Research

February 2014  

The online advertising industry in UAE broadly comprises of 8 major segments namely search and social, display, classifieds, digital video, mobile, lead generation sponsorship advertisement and email. Though search, social and display advertising segments have been the largest contributing segment of the UAE online advertising industry, the fastest growing segments have been mobile and video advertising which have grown at a CAGR of 60.3% and 52.3% during 2007-2012. In 2012, the spending on mobile advertisement was USD ~ million.

Though mobile advertisement currently contributes only a fraction of the overall online advertisement expenditure, a huge potential can be foreseen in this segment in the coming years. This is because entering the digital world has now become a need for the online advertising companies. UAE in particular has been witnessing the adoption of online technology especially in mobile services, which has further boosted the segment. New monetization models are now being followed in the country with lesser dependence on paid subscription. The new monetization model involves advertisement in mobile applications with incentivized installations.

For instance, definitely Dubai is a location based free advertisement and has been consistently ranked among the top free applications in the UAE. Apart from mobile advertising another segment which has witnessed tremendous growth in the recent years is video advertising representing a growth of 52.3% during 2007-2012. YouTube and Shahid.net are the major players operating in the UAE video advertising industry. Some of the major factors that have contributed to the growth of video advertising in the country are the reduction of repetitive content and conversations, addition of personal touch with the advertisers also providing the provision to add testimonials on such advertisements and others.
 
“The number of mobile advertisers in UAE reached around 250 million in 2012. The most popular mobile application includes games, social messaging, music and entertainment and sports and news. .” – According to the research report ‘UAE Online Advertising Market Outlook to 2017- Expected Growth in Mobile and Video Advertising Segment’ by Ken Research.
 
Segments such as mobile advertisement and digital video would slowly and steadily gain impetus as the mobile penetration is increasing in the country, with many of the subscribers accessing net through mobiles. Mobile advertising would be the fastest growing segment growing at a CAGR of 55.3% during 2012-2017 and reaching USD ~ million in 2017. Similarly the contribution of video advertising would increase to 9.0% in 2017, with the spending reaching USD ~ million in 2017.
 
The report provides detailed overview on the online advertising industry in UAE and help readers to identify the ongoing trends in the key segments of the industry and anticipated growth in future depending upon changing industry dynamics in coming years. The report will aid industry consultants, advertising platforms, advertising agencies and marketing companies and other stakeholders to align their market centric strategies according to ongoing and expected trends in future.