beyondbrics

The Arab world has long embraced television with gusto, and international media conglomerates are now increasingly starting to eye the potential of a youthful and increasingly well-to-do market with more than 250m often sedentary inhabitants.

Viacom’s MTV Networks and MBC Group, the largest pan-Arab broadcaster, Sunday signed an agreement to distribute the former’s Nickelodeon content through the latter’s regional network.

Shows such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and My Life as a Teenage Robot will be “localised” – in other words translated into Arabic – and MBC will also gain the rights to develop local consumer products and programmes based on some of Nickolodeon’s shows. Bhavneet Singh, MTV’s emerging markets chief, said:

The Middle East is a dynamic, thriving market with vast growth opportunities and this multi-platform deal will allow us to really advance our wider, ongoing strategy to build an integrated offering, both on and off-air, which we hope will establish Nickelodeon as the premier destination for kids across the region.

Viacom is not the only media conglomerate to make forays into the Arab world, News Corp earlier this year bought a 9 per cent stake in Rotana, a Saudi-owned broadcaster, for $70m, with an option to double the stake within 18 months.

When the deal was announced, James Murdoch, Rupert’s scion and head of News Corp’s European and Asian operations, said:

A stake in Rotana expands our presence in a region with a young and growing population, where GDP growth is set to outstrip that of more developed economies in the years ahead.

However, while the region’s economy and population might be expanding rapidly, the Middle East is not quite yet the land of milk and honey that some broadcasters may be hoping for.

The market is still very splintered. Despite the use of Arabic across the Middle East and North Africa there are very few pan-regional channels, and the lack of a Nielsen-style ratings system makes it difficult to accurately measure and monetise eyeballs. Last year advertising spend across the region was only $2.1bn. Moreover, more traditional fare – such as Egyptian soap operas – remain more popular than western content.

Still, advertising spend is growing at more than 30 per cent, according to the latest Arab Media Report, and is expected to accelerate further once a proper Nielsen-style ratings system is in place. Building “bridgeheads” – as Viacom’s Philippe Dauman put it in a recent interview with the FT – into the region now makes sense.

Related reading:
Viacom tunes into foreign growth, FT