While internet advertising is the second largest method of advertising in the world, the Middle East and North Africa (known as “MENA”) is still playing catch-up.
Consider this: global digital ad spending was just over $123 billion a year in 2013; in MENA last year, it finally hit $560 million, reports Rachel Williamson of Wamda.
And it’s true that advertising spend per capita, as indicated in a new infographic, is currently low: $38 in MENA in 2014, compared to $520 in the U.S. and $313 in Japan.
“But the small scale also means opportunity: marketing site CMO Council Middle East cites statistics claiming mobile advertising alone is expected to grow by a whopping 534 percent until 2017 – albeit from a very small base of 3 percent of the total regional ad market,” notes Williamson’s report.
The takeaway? Advertising isn’t going back to print or TV — it going digital and mobile, particularly in MENA.
Want to know more, check out the informative visual here.
