Several Business Factors Driving Booming OOH Ad Market In Middle East, N. Africa: WOO

February 20, 2023 by Dave Haynes

Several factors – from location and education to macro business policies – are behind a booming out of home advertising market in the Middle East and North Africa, says the head of the World Out of Home Organization.

“The stars are aligned,” WOO President Tom Goddard told delegates at the non-profit body’s first MENA Forum in Dubai last week.

“Why, in a world so unsettled with a war in Europe, an energy crisis, climate change concerns, political instability and economic headwinds are forecasters so buoyant about Out of Home? Because we have so many positive dynamics driving us forward.”

MENA, he says, is a region that “is not only bucking the global economic downturn but actually booming” thanks to factors including a young well-educated workforce and the United Arab Emirates’ open door policy and business-as-usual stance throughout the recent pandemic.

“MENA’s unique geographical location, with easy access to so many large markets, is really starting to tell,” he continued, with OOH; especially DOOH, very well-placed to benefit from the ever-growing number of exciting physical locations with consequent marketing and creative opportunities.

“There is nowhere better to make a gigantic statement about OOH,” he said, pointing to a stunning example from Qatar for the recent FIFA World Cup.

There are also broader contributing factors, such as:

• Credible audience metrics which build trust and confidence and facilitate a common trading language;
• Automation which is now becoming a major growth stimulus;
• Programmatic, facilitated by automation, which taps into mushrooming omni-channel trading;
• Creatives falling back in love with Out of Home as the digital tide ebbs;
• The return of spectacular one-off special builds;
• A growing desire for 24/7 media channels;
• The huge impact of anamorphic technology enabling highest resolution images on wide digital screens.

Goddard says the regional industry at sector level in an ever-more competitive global media market. The most effective way, he says, is to increase industry collaboration at all levels and shift focus from internal competition to sector level activity. “Don’t misunderstand me, local competition in some areas like bidding for site contracts is healthy and should continue” but a bigger medium means more for everyone.

He also pitched the need for strong trade associations to build sector growth.