Research from Informa Telecoms & Media shows that global TV advertising revenues in the Middle East and Africa will climb by 5.2 per cent in 2014 to reach $171 billion. This follows a 1.9 per cent increase expected for 2013. The rise in 2014 will be driven by improving consumer and corporate confidence along with the summer’s World Cup finals in Brazil.

As part of this global study, Informa has taken a particularly close look at the advertising markets of the Middle East and Africa (MEA). This research has found that the MEA generated TV advertising revenues of $5.9 billion in 2012, a figure that is expected to reach US$6.3 billion in 2013. With a CAGR of 10.2 per cent expected for the 2013-2018 period, annual revenues will top $10 billion by 2018.

Adam Thomas, Informa’s Media Research Manager, says: “The difficulty that has faced the MEA for many years is that most of its channel ratings measurement has been very old school. They are usually based on interviews and tend to inspire little confidence as to their reliability. At a very basic level, this makes it very difficult to assess whether advertising investment is reaching audience levels that justify the outlay.”

But, according to Thomas, the situation is changing: “For now, this negative perception continues to hold back the sector from greater growth. But the launch of more sophisticated people-meter technology in the UAE, for example, is a positive early step to address this. I’m expecting that this movement towards more advanced measurement will continue over the next few years and our forecasts assume revenues will grow as a result.”

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