(From Left) The panelists Hatim H. Alkahly, industry head of Emerging Arabia and representative of Google Middle East; Saudi Gazette Editor-in-Chief Khaled Almaeena, Abdullah Al-Ghadouni, digital adviser at Glowork; Saudi Gazette Deputy Editor-in-Chief Somayya Jabarti, and Feras Al-Maddah, executive director of Headline Communication and chairman of the advertising committee at JCCI, at the World of Electronic Advertising conference in Jeddah on Sunday. — SG photo Saudi Gazette report
JEDDAH — The volume of electronic advertising market in Saudi Arabia is estimated at SR150 million, according to Feras Al-Maddah, executive director of Headline Communication and the chairman of the committee of advertising at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI). This figure indicates that the electronic market has a promising future. Small- and medium-scale businesses should venture into and compete with each other in this market. These remarks were made during the first “World of Electronic Advertising” meeting 2013 held at the JCCI headquarters and opened by Mohideen Hakami, JCCI assistant secretary-general, on Sunday. The meeting was attended by Saudi Gazette Editor-in-Chief Khaled Almaeena, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Somayya Jabarti, Hatim H. Alkahly, industry head of Emerging Arabia and representative of Google Middle East; Abdullah Al-Ghadouni, board member and digital adviser at Glowork, and more than 100 industry figures. Participants discussed the Arabic content on the Internet, which represents 1 percent of 422 million Arabs. Entrepreneurs were encouraged to invest in projects that attract more surfers and advertisers and generate more profits. Speakers also talked about the various qualities of electronic advertising. They said one of these qualities is that this type of marketing allows you to identify your targeted clients, their age, geographic area, interests and sex. Thirteen million people in the Kingdom use Internet services such as emails, forums, search engines and YouTube. Speakers agreed that anyone who wants to advertise should look at the strategic e-advertising plan first before going to the next step; therefore, websites that offer exquisite services or content should be considered and given more importance because they attract the largest number of clients in the Saudi market. Al-Maddah said the number of YouTube videos uploaded each minute around the world has reached 72 hours of content while for the Middle East it reached an hour each minute. The number of times videos are watched everyday around the world has reached four billion. The Kingdom leads the world in terms of the number of times videos watched every day at 90 million, with 50 percent increase for the year 2012 compared with that of 2011. The volume of Saudi advertising market is estimated at SR1.2-SR1.5 billion and accounts for 29 percent of the volume of advertisement market in all Gulf countries, Al-Maddah noted. Of this volume, 12 percent represents electronic advertising with SR150 million. Electronic advertising in the Kingdom increased from SR11 million in 2008 to SR150 million in 2012.
