Dubai is, by far, leading the region in so many aspects, but when it comes to media, and specifically TV, Dubai is still in the process, the top Pan Arab TV stations are owned by countries other than the UAE; Al-Jazeera is owned by Qatar, Rotana network and MBC Group are Saudi ventures, Egypt owns the Melody network, while Lebanon, along with Saudi investors, owns Future & LBC.
However things changed, couple of years ago Dubai TV did a major rebranding exercise and became much better in terms of the image and the programs. MBC2′s rival, One TV, rebranded to Dubai One TV, personally I though they were trying to benefit of Dubai’s growing popularity to promote the channel, but I have to say Dubai One is one of my favorite TV stations now. In addition, Dubai Media Incorporated has launched two more stations; Sama Dubai and Dubai Sports.
Recently the Arab Media Group raised the bar and launched two major international TV stations, MTV Arabia and Nickeldeon Arabia. I was reading on the Arabian Business about a new TV station that will be launched on the first day of Ramadan, Noor Dubai is a 24-hour TV station that will broadcast several shows about issues that concerns families in the UAE and the Arab world, the station will be in Arabic, and will be followed by an English version next year.
But this raises a question about the potential that Dubai sees in these new developments, according to the research firm, Arab Advisors Group, TV advertising rates dropped down due to the high competition between the growing number of TV stations in the Middle East, and yet TV catered more than 48% of the total advertising spends in the Middle East last year, followed by Press, which catered 46%.
The current advertising scene, which is obviously monopolized by few titans, will not allow any growth for the rest of media such as online and outdoor.
