Emirates Business 24/7 reports that despite huge expectations of online ad spend in the next few years, an expert in the UAE said the print media will remain the leader in attracting the money spent on advertising.

Neither TV nor outdoor is expected to rival print media, said Sami Raffoul, General Manager of Pan Arab Research Centre. The internet will also lag behind as an advertising medium, he said, because of factors such as internet illiteracy and difficulty of access due to the language barrier.

According to Raffoul a moderate internet user can enumerate at least 100 websites dealing with careers, real estate, general interest, sports or business in the UAE. Audiences of the same age group and interests in different geographical locations, such as Jeddah or Cairo, will cite a different 100 sites. "In other words, the club of websites likely to be visited by an audience is influenced by the local community and personal needs and the universality of information sought," he said.

He said that an internet user in a place like Egypt or Morocco would only visit an Indian or Malaysian website for a specific reason, and that too rarely. Advertising pop-ups that might appear in the local languages of these portals will definitely mean nothing to the viewer, even if he of she has a rudimentary understanding of the languages used.

Raffoul said that advertisers' geographical locations will continue influencing Internet advertising, even if the internet was without any borders. "One news website, for example, might claim that it has received hundreds of thousands of visitors in a certain month, but who are they and where is their location and would they be interested in viewing an advertisement for a local bank in the UAE?

We don't know," he added. The reason why internet ad spend seems so huge, he said, is that advertisers would need to target numerous websites to receive the desired viewership. On the contrary, in a newspaper environment, a single advertisement can be placed for a specific rate, undoubtedly higher, yet reaching a wider audience, Raffoul said.

How much can the airwaves take? A recent report by Arab Advisors Group shows slightly a growth of around 21% in the number of radio stations in the Arab world, with the total number of FM radio stations jumping from 175 to 211 in the last two years!

The report, covering 18 Arab countries across GCC, Levant and North Africa, suggests that there are two factors behind this growth: liberalization of the sector and the variety in the ethnic groups in few of these countries like the UAE where radio stations broadcast in Arabic, English, Malayalam, Hindi, Urdu and Filipino.

But are the projected advertising revenues a factor in this growth?

Apparently not as, radio expenditures experienced a drop in the last few years. The report suggests that this is probably due to the insignificant exposure and the lack of creativity in radio jingles. But with this rapid growth in the number of radio stations in a market that doesn't spend more than 1% on radio, what's the real story?

According to the report, 113 radio stations are state owned while only 98 stations are private which indicates that more than 50% of radio stations in the MENA region are not for commercial purposes but for political reasons, which puts a question on the role of the radio in this region. Is it a governmental propaganda tool or an entertaining and informative media?

Findings of surveys conducted by the Arab Advisors last year in Morocco and Saudi Arabia, and in year before in Egypt and Jordan show that the majority of the population in these countries listens to the radio.

So, how can anyone explain the low advertising expenditure on this medium and does this call into question the viability of radio as an advertising tool?

To advertising agencies and clients we say: What's the story from your side?