UAE Media

Executive Summary

With technological advancements and continuing government investments in non-oil sectors, the media industry seems to be rising again, after the advent of the financial crisis. The UAE media industry is still heavily reliant on advertisement revenues, ad spend per capita is expected to grow at a rate of 2.7% in the UAE. At present, the industry is undergoing a structural shift globally, moving from the traditional print media to digital and social media, but the revenue model from the latter is still unclear. Pay TV has the strongest presence in the UAE, among regional peers, being the home to OSN and Abu Dhabi Media as well as fixed line operators Du and Etisalat. More than 50 per cent of the households in the country get their TV from satellite, despite higher than average IPTV penetration in the region, which is likely to increase. Exponential growth of digital and social media, due to improving literacy rate, and higher penetration of internet and mobile communication devices will lead the surge in the growth of digital media in the future.

The report provides an overview of the media industry in the UAE, and analyses the penetration of digital TV, mobile, internet, and social media over the past few years. It then discusses the various segments of the industry: Print (newspapers & magazines), Television, Digital and Social media, and the laws and regulations governing these segments. Finally, the report details the demand drivers, trends and challenges facing the UAE media industry.