Recently some of the Middle East’s top advertisers, including Emirates and Unilever, declared their intentions to cut-down on their TV advertising spend. Apparently, they do not believe television has the same impact anymore, citing fragmentation due to large numbers of TV channels and audience adoption of other media, mainly the Internet.

So, does this spell the end of TV’s domination over advertising expenditure?

Looking at some facts provided by Arabsat, the premier satellite operator in the region, can provide an indication.

According to Arabsat, there are 130 million viewers watching 240 channels broadcasting through the Arabsat satellites.

This huge audience has, so far, sustained TV’s position as the leading pan-Arab advertising medium and therefore maintaining a significant share of advertising spend in most Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia.

This has attracted too many new players into the game, with a somewhat chaotic situation emerging in pan-Arab TV. Obviously, as a report by the Arab Advisors Group points out, the aggressive competition has resulted in lower advertising rates and a fight for survival.

Yet, this has not stopped the roll-out of even more TV stations in the Arab world.

Arabsat, now ranked among the top ten global satellite operators, recently held a seminar in Dubai to launch its fifth satellite in the second quarter year 2008!

The aim is to improve the regional broadcasting industry by offering new technologies, and most likely increasing the number of TV stations in Arabia, but how much can the industry take?

It remains to be seen how the TV advertising market will evolve in 2007, leading up to this further onslaught of new stations in 2008.

Via [mediaME]