Ad spend is spiraling, but which way?

Ad spend is spiraling, but which way?

The GCC ad spend report from January to September has a positive ring to it. Will it continue ringing in the coming months?

November 17, 2008 2:30 by kippreport

Pan Arab Research Centre (PARC) recently published the GCC ad spend report for the first three quarters of this year (from January to September), and apparently there’s been an increase of 28 percent over the same period last year.

According to the report, insurance and real estate sectors were the largest advertising spenders with a 33 percent share up to the third quarter of 2008, with an increase of 114 percent compared to the same period of 2007.

But now, with the financial turmoil, this is bound to change. With real estate companies cutting jobs, they are bound to cut their advertising.

So, where will media going to get the advertising money it survives on?

Tags: ad spend, advertising, gcc, Money, newspapers, profit, revenue

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3 Comments

Obelix on November 18, 2008 6:53 am

The advertising revenue is increasing is because rate cards are being inflated. There is no real rise in actual advertising or consumption of space. This is another way of misleading the readers, saying everything is fine in the economy. PR at its best
Russell on November 18, 2008 11:04 am

I agree with Obelix. Personally I feel the ad spend will drop only because the spaces would be sold now cheaper.
Deegee on November 18, 2008 1:04 pm

Considering the greed of the media suppliers who are used to hiking up rates year on year the decrease iin ad spend if any will only be marginal
Besides most of the outdoor in the region is now being sold across multiple calendar years and some of that will keep the ad spend going till the end of 2009. (A lot of the real estate cos. who have already invested in the large outdoor signs will still be present on the ever growing giant oudoor signs on SZR) By which time hopefully there should be a slowdown in the economic turmoil and we will be back to inflated ratecards
To finish I would like to take Obelix’s point further – ther is no traffic problem, there is no inflation, there is no economic crisis, the rent hikes are justified, the parking meters in resdential areas are justified, VAT is healthy for the economy …………….:-)