News
Strong results for TV and Blackberry in EMS Middle East survey
21 June 2012
International television is the most popular medium consumed by the Middle East’s most affluent individuals, with a total weekly reach of 98% according to the EMS Middle East 2012 survey. Daily reach for international television in the Middle East is also high at 89%, eclipsing print and online media.
In a trend similar to the EMS 2012 European results, the internet has edged past print in the Middle East with a reach of 51%, compared to print’s 41% reach. The survey revealed that 65% of respondents described themselves as heavy internet users, spending more than eight hours a week online, while 59% identified themselves as heavy readers, spending more than six hours a week reading. Only 55% described themselves as heavy TV viewers, watching more than 14 hours a week.
Mobile penetration is higher in the Middle East than it is in Europe, with Blackberry systems proving the most popular. Blackberry devices have a 57% penetration in Gulf regions and 52% in non-Gulf regions, compared to 9% in Europe. Apple's iPhone scored 55% Gulf penetration and 44% non-Gulf penetration, compared to 17% in Europe. Tablet devices are also proving popular, with a 39% penetration in Gulf regions compared to 11% in Europe. Non-Gulf regions bucked the trend with only a 10% tablet penetration.
The Financial Times came out on top of the print dailies with an average issue readership (AIR) of 0.7%.
The International Herald Tribune followed with an AIR of 0.3% and the
Wall Street Journal Europe took third place with an AIR of 0.2%.
Weekly titles saw
Time take the lead with an AIR of 3.4%, followed by
Newsweek taking second with an AIR of 2.6% ahead of
The Economist with 2.1%. Rankings in fortnightly magazines saw a fight between
Fortune and
Forbes Magazine, with
Fortune taking the top spot with an AIR of 1.6% and
Forbes second with 0.9%.
Monthly titles in the Middle East are closer together in the survey;
National Geographic Magazine edges out
Bloomberg Markets with AIRs of 0.7% and 0.6% respectively. Inflight magazines in the Middle East see the highest AIRs with
Ahlan Wasahlan leading with 6.6%, followed by
Open Skies (4.0%) and
Horus (3.6%).
Al Arabiya is the most popular channel among the Middle East’s elite with a daily reach of 41.1%. This is followed by Aljazeera Sports (13.1%), CNN (11.5%) and BBC World News with 7.0%. MTV, which took the top spot in the European survey, only scored a daily reach of 1.7%.
Weekly reach rankings are similar with Al Arabiya coming out on top again with 60.8%. This is followed by Aljazeera Sports (30.7%) and CNN (21.3%). Alhurra replaces BBC World News in fourth place with a weekly reach of 14.3%.
EMS Middle East tracks the top 13% of the adult population in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. The survey has a universe of 1.9 million and a sample of 3002. The first EMS Middle East was published in 2009 and due to a number of technical improvements to the methodology resulting from recent political changes in the region, trend analysis between the 2012 and 2009 study is not permitted.
The European edition of EMS was published in May and more in depth analysis of the study can be found in the Q2 edition of M&M Global which hits desks this week.
David Hing, London