Arab Media Outlook 2008 to be released in November

The report, brought out by Dubai Press Club in association with PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PwC), focuses on a number of global trends in the global media industry and how these trends are impacting the Middle East region. These include the rise in user-generated-content (UGC), - the rapid growth in blogs in some countries in the region and the use of UGC for regional television are among the issues that the report will analyze in detail.

Besides UGC, the Outlook will also study the emergence of mobile devices as a parallel channel for delivering content in markets with limited broadband penetration. Technology deployment to unlock value across the content production and distribution value chain, the development of the mobile internet and mobile television and emerging techniques for audience measurement also form the core subject areas covered in the report. The Outlook will provide a wide range of new facts and insights into the changes that are currently sweeping the Arab media industry.

The study is based on interviews with heads and CEOs of various Arab media organizations, daily newspapers, TV stations, newswire services, media universities, and associations of journalists in 12 Arab countries as well as on PwC's highly regarded annual Global Entertainment and Media Report and research carried out by PwC.

Due to be released by the end of November 2008, the report is covering 12 Arab countries which are: The UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Morocco, Qatar, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Mona Al Marri, chairperson, Dubai Press Club, said that Arab Media Outlook 2008 - 2012 will be very representative of the latest developments in the Arab media as it covers 12 countries, pointing out that "The Outlook will be a reference for policy makers, media personnel, regulators, financial investors, technology vendors and academics associated with the media sector. The report will also testify to the quick pace at which Arab media is growing across the region in terms of technology, content and human resources".

Marcel Fenez, PwC's Global Media Leader, said PwC is strongly committed to this project: "We are very excited to be working with Dubai Press Club again on the 2008 edition of this ground-breaking publication. The Middle East now has some of the world's most dynamic media markets and is attracting attention from media organizations around the world. The Arab Media Outlook 2008 - 2012 will, in particular, address the growth of new forms of content production and the distribution of all forms of content via mobile devices. These trends are central to the future development of the media and provide excellent opportunities for media organizations in the Middle East to develop new models for content production and to use technology to ensure high quality delivery of content to rapidly increasing numbers of readers and viewers both in their home markets and further afield. These are developments that will provide a wide of commercial opportunities for media companies and associated infrastructure providers and will contribute strongly to future economic development."

The first edition of the Arab Media Outlook was released last year at the Arab Media Forum 2007. It covered the entire gamut of issues relating to the development of people and organizations in the Arab media. The size and growth of media entities as well as response of listeners, readers and viewers, advertising issues and the emergence of new media and convergence in the industry were also analyzed in the previous edition.