This week we got a chance to have an interactive session with Mr. Ravi Rao – CEO – GroupM MENA. Mr Ravi is a Dubai veteran of 30 years, with in-depth knowledge of local markets and enthusiasm for harnessing new data & technology. That has made him a master of media management and business development with an elite portfolio of experience of top international brands such as Unilever, P&G, Mars, PepsiCo & Dubai Holding. We discussed in brief the current Advertising market scenario across the MENA region, How has the pandemic affected the Advertising Industry and What is the Future of Digital & Traditional Advertising?
How has Media Advertising changed in the past 18 months?
The Advertising Industry in the last 4 years surprisingly is in a regressive mode and Advertising spends across the MENA region has been coming down. This year we saw an upswing in total dollars by multiple clients across the region. During the pandemic, the first three months of the year from Jan to March were in good momentum and we were reaching our Quarterly targets compared to 2019 as an industry said Mr. Ravi. The advertising industry was hugely impacted as the first thing brands cut during revenue and margin pressure is the advertising cost added Mr. Ravi.
What is the future of Traditional Advertising?
Two years ago for the first time, TV became number #2 to Digital Advertising in terms of total spends in the region. Digital is continuing to grow despite the pandemic because one of the last numbers to be cut down was Digital Advertising spends, said Mr. Ravi. TV Advertising showed a slightly drastic decline, Print almost reaching its bare minimum across the marketplace in the region. Readership of Newspapers & Magazines dropped during the pandemic added Mr. Ravi.
As per estimates, MENA Advertising spend is set to reach around $2.5Bn with a Digital Advertising spend of $1Bn. As per Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) MENA Digital Advertising spend will reach #3.64Bn as many SMEs are focusing and directly advertising in the Digital marketplace. Digital is dominating the advertising space but companies need a mix of Brand Equity Vs Brand Performance, that’s why planning becomes critical added Mr. Ravi. None of the advertising spend can come down to Zero but some numbers can shoot up to 20% or come down to 20% said Mr. Ravi. In fact, GroupM is doing a revised Ads spend scenario for MENA on Account of Digital spends.
How does Social Media Downtime affect your business strategy?
During social media outages Brands and Advertisers take a hit as they cannot advertise during that period, and you’ll always have such situations which is why a good advertising planner decides where to shift the budgets and which media that is consumed, active and can play a role of trigger to purchase or to create an awareness or create influence said Mr. Ravi. Planning becomes very critical on a daily basis especially in the Digital Advertising space. As long as you have good analytics and you are on the pulse of what’s going on, you can keep the spending shuffling but the strategy will still remain the same added Mr. Ravi.
Watch the exclusive interview on our channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfHxj4nVPOc
About GroupM
Founded in 2003, GroupM is the largest media investment company in the world, representing 30% of all media billings worldwide; 1 in 3 ads are placed by the network. The global team of 36,400 people, operating in 80 markets, is united in a vision to shape the next era of media where advertising works better for people. Our agencies—Mindshare, mediacom, Wavemaker, Essence, and m/SIX—are our success and serve as the front line to a new era of media strategy and innovation. Unique in services, culture and ideas, each brand is a leader in their field. Bound by a belief that an ad that cannot be seen has no value, GroupM is the agency leader in brand safety. GroupM is a founding member of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). We are agency partners to 1 out of 2 Top 100 global brands, representing $50 billion in media spend globally. As the largest ad spenders on Amazon, Facebook, and Google, among others, our media and technology relationships result in “first” and premier innovations for clients.