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Electronic, Print Media Content Needs Improvement

DUBAI - Industry experts have said though the UAE media has had phenomenal growth, a lot more can be done to improve the content in the electronic and print media.

The growth of advertisements in the UAE’s electronic media industry is one of the highlights of the Dubai Media and Marketing Show (MMS) 2008 which kicked off at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center on Monday. The exhibition ends on Wednesday.

The fourth edition of the exhibition has over 200 exhibitors representing more than 600 brands. The highlight this year is the growing popularity of broadcasting, print, and Internet advertisements.

Speaking at a seminar for the participants of the show, Husni Khuffash, country-specific development manager for Google, said, “In the next two years, there will be more mobile phones than people in the Middle East. Technology is growing at a rapid pace and people in the marketing industry must not sit through this growth.

“The increase of Internet-based advertisement at a global level is undeniable and it is comparatively affordable as compared to other media. But the Arab world has a lot more to contribute to Internet advertising considering the fact that there is only one per cent of Arabic content on the Internet.” In the Arab world, use of Internet is a lot more as compared to creation of more web portals, he added.

Samr Al Marzouqui, general manager of MTV Arabia, told Khaleej Times that the broadcasting industry in the UAE has a lot of potential. Keeping the Arabic youth in mind, MTV broadcasts a few programmes in English, and a few in Arabic.

He said, “Our target is the Arab youth. There are a lot of local language programmes like ‘Hip Hopna’, ‘Bakabeek’ and ‘Al Helm’ which are popular among the youth here. Then there are also a lot of our international shows like ‘Pimp my ride’, ‘Punk’d’ and ‘Cribs’ which are edited to suit religious sentiments of the Middle East.

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com

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