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by Paul Boulos
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 We spend more than four hours per day watching TV in the Arab region, according to market research, while we have low readership compared to the rest of the world. What role should television assume? With high penetration among our families and youth, television can make a positive difference by assuming a moral role. But we find that very few channels, of the many that are being set up, are educationally-geared. What has the television industry really achieved for its own people? What value has it added when it comes to self expression? How profound has it been in reflecting and tackling the real problems that Arab viewers face every day?
Where are we now?
We are truly witnessing the “mushroom phase” of satellite TV channels in the MENA region. Different studies show that, in the last two years alone, the number of TV channels has multiplied from around 150 free-to-air channels to well over 300, with multiple offerings. The law of the industry is still being shaped, but if we make a small projection, it is likely that it is quickly becoming too crowded and will be burning itself out. Although many speak of a media revolution taking place, a snapshot of our industry shows that we fall short in many areas, namely: planning and carrying out research, recruiting, and developing talent.
The dire need for research
It is a rule of thumb that research and development in the West takes a lion’s share of any industry line that aims at unprecedented success. Unfortunately, we are in a region where the blind leads the bland. Has anyone asked the viewers what they want? Research is still at its infant stage: subjective and ego-driven. The media research budget in the region doesn’t even account to 0.5% of any advertising budget.
The HR factor
Does talent come first? Sadly enough, it does not. Zooming-in on the operational side, organizational structures, and human resources expertise, you will find that HR departments are dominated by newcomers to this virgin industry, or those who have become dinosaurs of the past. Very few are the names that resonate as visionary leaders in our industry. For future success stories to be written, skilled and qualified HR is a must The golden principle must
become: Talent, Talent, and Talent.
Survival of the fittest
If we argue that television channels are not mission-driven and have no
social responsibility in a problem-filled
region, then we must accept that they are commercially-driven and that they are generating good revenue. The reality is not so. Most of these channels are barely breaking even and many are losing propositions.
The 80/20 formula applies here. With a limited growth of the ad share revenue and a fierce competition of TV amongst other mediums such as print, outdoor, radio and new media, this deduction does not make sense. This brings us to a bigger question: Why are these channels still here and how are they being sustained?
At another level, high expectations were placed on private-sector initiatives. The most popular of these private-sector entertainment channels were those based on formats directly purchased from the West. With the Arab majority consuming what was created by another culture for its own people, the search and reapply method could prove to be a smart short-term business stint but surely proves that our industry is not able to cater to its viewers anything of its own conception and creation.
Almost every marketer speaks of the Arab youth bulge and the fact that we need to talk to them and answer their needs. Can anyone claim that the broadcast television industry has been able to answer or even touch on a fraction of the aspirations of the Arab youth?
Where are we heading?
If one takes the pace of channel proliferation in the past two years and extrapolates this into the three coming years, we will most likely reach 700 or 800
channels in various offerings. Consumers will be pushed toward more confusion and visual clutter. What would future channels anticipate? Do they anticipate buyouts by bigger fish, or will they start to form some alliances of convenience? We are now seeing the regrouping and organizing of some of the key players into multi-channel offerings as almost self-sufficient groups, such as MBC, DTV, ADTV, Al Jazeera, and more recently, the alliance of LBC and Rotana.
Are the above groups preparing themselves for even bigger buyouts from the West? Will they wait for large giants like Investcorp to arrive here? Will the TV industry be able to compete with new media on the medium term? How long will this mushrooming phase continue before it eventually matures and takes form?
Does our region need all of these channels? What do our viewers really want? How could we progress best with this business? What is our strategic shift to create a forward funnel? This remains food for thought and material for future articles.
Somehow, as broadcast professionals, we have fallen short in delivering a success story and writing new pages of history. Yet, as an optimist and believer in the potential of our Arab culture, I believe the opportunity lies ahead of us given that we protect two things and give them our immediate attention: our people and our data. |
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