According to Elie Khouri, the chief executive of Omnicom Media Group in the Middle East and North Africa, television ad spend will decline by 5% in 2012. Khouri said that multinational advertisers are becoming increasingly cautious when it comes to regional TV advertising, and this would suppress TV revenues. "I estimate it's going to be down by 5% this year. Multinational clients are holding back."

According to Khouri, digital technologies are also affecting ad spend as viewers move away from traditional television viewership. "TV has always been considered the backbone of the industry in this part of the world, and I think today we're starting to see that other media types are taking over from TV: that being the digital, the emphasis on social media, and search. All these things are growing phenomenally still," Khouri said.

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