Increase in Ad revenue forecast for MENA in 2014

MAGNA GLOBAL, a strategic global media unit of IPG Mediabrands has released estimates for advertising revenues in 2014. The MENA region had experienced a slight drop in 2013, largely blamed on the instability in Egypt, but is due to bounce back with growth projected at over 6.3 per cent for the entire region encompassing the Middle East and Africa.

The overall global growth in advertising revenues in 2014 is expected to hit more than 6.5 per cent to reach $521.6bn, which records the strongest year-on-year growth since 2010, which had closely followed the recession. The projections show an increase from last year in global advertising revenue of 3.3 per cent, to reflect the acceleration of the global media economy in 2014. The football World Cup in Brazil, the Sochi Winter Olympics, and the US mid-term elections have been earmarked as the major non-recurring events that will contribute up to 7.5 per cent in the new year in comparison with a modest 1.8 per cent growth in 2013.

Another major contributor to rising global advertising revenue is the digital media spectrum, which has displayed the quickest growth in 2013 rising 16 per cent to $118bn. Within the sphere of digital media, mobile platforms (over 85 per cent) doubled in size to reach $16bn while social networking (over 58 per cent) generated almost $9bn in spending. Digital media also grew in programmatic trading avenues to reach $12bn globally. This mainly included real-time bidding as well as automated platforms for video and display inventory buying.

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