MBC, floundering or growing?

From one TV station to seven, mbc group is strategically growing into a fully-fledged TV network that managed to position itself as a leading media operator in the Middle East. However I felt that they are floundering a little, but by all means they are doing great job, and the interesting part is that they started to adopt the internet, with the launch of a web-based section where you can catch mbc’s Arabic shows.

MBC Max vs. mbc2
Yet another movie channel is lined up to be launched soon by mbc group, MBC Max, a 24-hour free-to-air TV station that is similar to mbc2 in content; Western movies. But what’s the point of launching similar channels? And will the new channel split the audience?

Mbc2 enjoys a very good reach, and launching a similar channel doesn’t mean it will lose its viewers, if we consider watching habits, most probably the viewer will catch the movie they like, whether on mbc2 or MBC Max, movies are different than TV shows and series.

Personally I feel that Mbc Max will open more advertising opportunities, either through sponsorships or commercial spots, and this could mean that, either TV advertising spends will grow even further and eat from Print’s share, or Mbc is expecting an increase in its advertising spends shares.

Mbc4… Eve Forever!

When mbc4 was launched, Mbc decided to shift all TV shows; sitcoms, talk shows, reality, series… to the new baby, and left movies to mbc2. But recently, mbc decided to reconsider this strategy by broadcasting movies that target women on mbc4.

What’s really weird is the way they are trying to brand it as a women’s channel, I remember their promo when they featured a group of stupid-looking girls along with the slogan: It’s for you. Now they have adopted a new kind-of-a-slogan: Eve Forever!

What are they trying to do? I mean most of mbc4’s shows are not purely feminine stuff like Oprah, Desperate Housewives, Turkish soap operas, and Rachel Ray are targeted for females, but most of their shows such as Late Show with David Letterman, or Seinfeld, or So you think you can dance, or so many others, are for both genders, so what’s the point of liaising it with women?

Another mbc1
Ramadan is becoming more of a hot season for Arabic TV shows, during this year’s Ramadan, mbc1, mbc group’s flagship channel, was over crowded with a variety of Arabic TV series, I guess they were broadcasting 7 series after Iftar, back to back.

Mbc group is focusing on growing its English-language portfolio, probably because of the lack of competitors, unlike the competition in Arabic-language stations, which is really aggressive, but still mbc1 reserved the exclusive rights of most-viewed Arabic series in Ramadan, another Arabic station could open a new front for mbc group, but of course it should be carefully calculated to avoid any conflict with sister channels.

Here are really cool promos on channels of mbc group, personally I like the egg promo that goes on mbc4, and I really like the music of the water promo on mbc1, though it’s a good idea to share them!

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