Bahrain outperforms any other country in the Middle East region in advertising between two Ramadan seasons in 2009 and 2010, the Trade Arabia News Service said Thursday. “Between Ramadan 2009 and 2010, advertising (spending) increased by 71 per cent in Bahrain to $16 million, outperforming any other country in the region,” it said quoting a report. The Pan Arab media market increased spending by 128 per cent but in national economies, the closest to Bahrain in growth was Oman with an 18 percent rise, it said quoting findings of the Pan Arab Research Center, adding that Qatar was up 17 percent and Egypt 16 percent. Overall, advertising on television appears to dominate the media scene during Ramadan with about 80 per cent share of the total adverts spend, followed by newspapers with 15 per cent share. “Last year Egypt's advertising market followed the Pan Arab market in terms of advertising value during Ramadan. However, it remains to be seen if it would continue this year, owing to the huge drop in adverts spend in Egypt for the first half of the year due to the Arab Spring,” it quoted PARC Bahrain branch manager Leo Joseph as saying. “The increase in adverts spend ing during Ramadan in Bahrain in 2010 was impressive and the amount of advertising investments was almost equally split between daily newspapers and the domestic market television,” he said, according to the Trade Arabia News Service.
