Pan Arab Media, consisting of media titles focusing multi-markets and accounting for 29% of the regional spend gained 20%.

Advertising spend in the UAE markets saw its spending surging by 23% during this period and hence replaced Saudi Arabia as the top spending market in the region.

Saudi Arabia making a modest gain of 6% follow closely with spending of US$15.2 million; Kuwait ranked third with its spending increased by 9% followed by Qatar with a robust growth of 16%, Jordan a smaller regional market witnessed a unprecedented rise of 51% increase in spending; however Lebanon spending declined by (-7%) while Bahrain spending plunged by(-20%), Egypt spending plummeted by (-24%) during this period.

Watches accounted for 81% of the category share with US$ 58.5 million while remaining 19% spending by Jewellery and accessories.

Magazines account for the lion’s share (52 %) of advertising revenues, further consolidating its spending by posting a robust 26% gain (over 2010) for the same period.



Rolex is ranked as the top spending brand in the region. It is followed by Cartier,Longines, Swatch and Omega in order of their spending.

The spending figures indicate the return of sustained growth in the sector; however the growth may not be uniform across the region

In summary, despite global economic downturn trends & Arab spring in certain parts, the mainstay of many of the Gulf economies, the total media spending in Arab Advertising Markets in 2011 for the jewellery and watches sectors increased by a healthy 11 % over corresponding 2010 expenditures. All round increases were recorded in every major market in the region—principally the GCC (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait & Qatar), the Levant (notably Jordan) and in Pan Arab markets. The only downside to this continually incremental trend was evident in Bahrain (down 20 %), Egypt (down 24%), Lebanon (down 7%) small decreases in otherwise double-digit increases for all of the other markets.

Key considerations:

• Over 250 top, premium, international watch & jewellery brands were surveyed in this extensive report. 
• Media: Magazines / Newspapers / Television / Outdoor / Radio & Cinema.
• Currency : All figures are in USD $ 000s 
• GCC: Gulf Co-operation Council comprising the Arabian Gulf States of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the UAE . 
• Pan Arab: Mix of Print Media / TV and Radio stations across the Pan Arab world. 
• Levant: Primarily Lebanon, Jordan. 
• For the purpose of this survey, advertising costs have been computed from the respective rate cards of individual publications. Barters, discounts and other considerations have not featured in this study. 
• In this series, PARC has examined the media expenditure for specific brands as well as for principals / franchisees / retailers in the watches, jewellery and accessories both collectively and singularly for the Middle East region. 
• The media has also been classified into Pan Arab Media which includes cross border TV stations such as MBC, LBC Sat, Future International (Al Mushtaqbal), Al Jazeera (Qatar) and Al Arabiya (UAE) to name a few; trans-national print media (publications with multi-country circulations) & regional radio stations. 

At USD $ 72 million in 2011, the total advertising spend (general, all categories) was up 11% over corresponding 2011 figures across the GCC, Levant (Lebanon & Jordan) and Egypt.The region did not slow down and advertising spend for the industry in 2011 has been the higher. The big spenders continued to spend even more with bigger advertising budget allocations. The emergence of new brands has fuelled competition within the advertising industry and resulted in increase in advertising spend across the board in all forms of media—print, radio, television and outdoor.



Watches & Clocks Vs. Jewellery & Accessories

In every market and every sector, watches & clocks dominated the advertising landscapeand accounted for the lion’s share of advertising spend relative to jewellery & accessories. The former accounted for 81 % against 19 % for the latter in all markets. In the Pan Arab Media The former accounted for 79 % against 21 % for the latter and individually, 81 % in the singular GCC markets and 86 % in the Levantine markets.



Industry continued to exude optimism in 2011 relative to 2010

The sizeable increment in advertising spend for the watch and jewellery trade across the surveyed regional markets of the Middle East in 2011 over 2010 and an even greater increase over 2009 clearly reflects the steadfastness & spectacular progress of the industry in the region.

The industry is an oasis of optimism and hope for global marketers and the vote of confidence is evidenced in the fact that brands continue to operate profitably, newer and larger boutiques are regularly being opened and others are still making a bee-line to thisregion.



UAE (+23%) Saudi Arabia (+6%) retain top two positions

Traditional regional powerhouses UAE & Saudi Arabia continued to maintain their top positions. In 2011, the UAE rallied from second place to topple Saudi Arabia from its top perch to become the single biggest advertising spender for the same period during the year. In 2010 for the same period, Saudi Arabia had edged the UAE to take top spot as the biggest advertising market.

The UAE’s 2011 watch & jewellery advertising expenditure stood at USD $ 16,012 million representing a 23 % growth over the corresponding 2010 figure of USD $ 13,000 million. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia’s advertising spend of USD $ 14.429 million in 2010 was overshadowed by a modest 6% increase to attain USD $ 15.230 million in H1 2011.

Kuwait (+9%)
Kuwait ranked third with a significant increase in the advertising spend in H1 2011 with expenditure of US$5,984.00 a growth of 9% over 2010 H1 figure of US$5,509.00

Qatar (+16%)
In recent times, Qatar has shown marked dynamism in advertising expenditures and retail sales boosted by events such as the annual Doha Jewellery & Watches Exhibition, which in February 2011 held the 8th Edition of the Fair. Qatar registered significant increase in spending over 2010 figure of US$4,702.00 to US$ 5,453.00 in the H1 2011 a robust growth of 16%.

Jordan (+51%)
Jordan a smaller regional market saw an unprecedented rise of 51% in H1 2011 an expenditure of US$1,235.00 compared to US$819.00 in the H1 2010.

Bahrain (-20%)
The Advertising spending of Bahrain plunged by 20%.

Lebanon (-7%)
Lebanon spending declined by 7%.

Egypt (-24%)
The spending of Egypt plummeted by a whooping 24%.

Watch the space!!

Importantly, the top 25 brands by region and media, and the top 20 brands on television,newspapers, magazines and other top spenders will be some of the highlights to be presented in the second installment of this Market Report.

Note to readers:
Cautionary & Acknowledgment:

Readers are advised to note that the figures provided reflect advertising expenditure based on published rates of the various media involved. Not accounted for are the discounts provided, special rates applicable, barter deals, other bilateral considerations nor the commissions accrued to advertising agencies. Whilst the discounts would factor in the arithmetic and computation, MPP-ME believes it will not significantly alter the overall perspective and emerging indicators of this very protracted and exhaustive PARC study.

As in previous years and with previous analyses, the MPP-ME & www.mpp-me.com research team acknowledges with appreciation and gratitude the tremendous input, hard work and co-operation of the entire team at Pan Arab Research Centre, PARC, for access to all published data. Specifically, we would like to thank Mr. Sami Raffoul, General Manager and his dedicated team for their unstinted co-operation and support to this project. Additionally we wish also to extend our thanks and appreciation to Mr. M Shaharyar Umar, Marketing Director at Pan Arab Research Center-Columnist and Market analysis’ specialist for several Marketing and advertising titles in the Middle East.