Ikoo announces plans to launch its own video network

Regionally, Youtube data for 2012 indicates that 190 million videos are watched daily in Saudi Arabia alone, with the figure growing to 240 million daily for the MENA region. Youtube EMEA's Managing Director has also gone on record announcing that he expects video to account for 90 percent of consumed content on the Internet by 2014.

Reports on video consumption in the United States also show that video represented 50% of the country's Internet traffic in 2010. People spend 4.5 hours per month watching video on their PCs and 4 hours on mobile devices, with 60% of Internet users viewing at least one online video per week.

The rise of video content is highly correlated to the availability of high speed Internet. While the US may have historically led the way in the consumption of video online, the GCC region has also seen a surge in online video consumption due to advanced telecommunications facilitating better connectivity.

"Video offers advertisers the ability of connecting to a wider and more engaged user base. Promotional videos in online advertising offer a unique opportunity to run ads alongside video content and allows advertisers to promote their message to a massive engaged audience," said Isam Bayazidi, CEO at Ikoo.

Other benefits include better brand engagement, increased ROI, and the ability to track and evaluate consumers' media consumption habits to generate valuable behavioral data.

Ikoo's network of partners includes eleven video sites covering the areas of sports, entertainment, family, news, automotive and women. More partners are expected to be added shortly.

There are several ways that advertisers can take advantage of online video content to run promotional materials - from linear videos that run before, during or after the main content to non-linear overlays that run simultaneously with the requested content without taking over the screen or disrupting the user experience.

"Video advertising offers all the elements of successful advertising that brands seek. Online video gives targeted reach that TV advertisements cannot match, while offering results that are accurately measurable. Video also garners more attention than regular online ads, and are more likely to be watched and remembered by online consumers," Bayazidi added.

"As technology and media consumption habits change from passive television to the consumption of media on demand, supplemented by the rise of high speed connectivity and video-capable smartphones and personal devices, we are seeing video advertising take off in the GCC market. We expect the market to become an even more diverse, interesting and vibrant place as advertisers compete to create interesting ad content and seek partners with the right publishing reach to target consumers," Bayazidi concluded.