The only way is up, or so it seems, for the Jordanian advertisement sector, which recorded stunning double digit growth figures over the past decade. A recent media survey, however, produced some uneasy literature for advertisers, ad agencies and media representatives alike, as readership ratios hardly match the way advertisement budgets are spent.
According to research firm Ipsos, total advertisement expenditure based on official rack rates increased by some 30% in 2007 to amount to $280 million. Since 2000, total ad spending grew by no less than 260%, making it one of the kingdom’s fastest growing industries. Still, Jordanian advertisement represents but 3% of the regional market, whereby it should be noted that all Ipsos figures are based on
official rack rates. In reality, ad spend could be more than 30% lower.
Jordan’s big spenders are the same as elsewhere, with the 30% increase in 2007 mainly fuelled by the re-branding campaigns of the Arab Bank and telecom firms Zain and Orange. Home to four national operators, the Jordan telecom sector remained the country’s biggest advertiser with some 20% of the market, followed by banking (12%), leisure and entertainment (12%), general services (11%) and real estate (8%).
While most countries spend the lion’s share of their budget on TV commercials, nearly 80% of Jordanian advertisement spending is in the country’s newspapers. The remaining 20% is divided, more or less equally, between television, magazines, radio and outdoors. The main reason television scores so badly is the fact Jordan has but one national broadcaster, state-owned Jordan TV, which is hardly watched.
Still, seeing the overwhelming amount of ads in Jordan’s print media, the Jordan Media Survey (JMS) managed to raise some eyebrows, to say the least. Conducted by the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) in late 2007, the survey did over 3,000 face-to-face interviews during a period of two weeks and found that only 57.9% of respondents had “read or flipped through” a newspaper during the previous month, while less than one third of people polled had read a weekly, and just 13.5% had opened a monthly.
Read your news today?
Funded by a $5 million USAID grant, IREX’ aim is to strengthen media independence in the kingdom. The aim of the survey was to help media outlets come to a better understanding of the market. Not surprisingly, it appeared that 30% of interviewees had read Al Rai, Jordan’s leading newspaper with a daily circulation of some 100,000 copies, followed by Al Ghad (15.2%), Al Dustour (12.9%) and Al Yawm (5%). On the question if they had read a newspaper “yesterday,” only 18.5% of interviewees responded positively.
The situation was not much better for weeklies and monthlies. From the some 30% of people who had read or flipped through a weekly, 21% responded that they had opened a free classified publication. The dozens of other, relatively small weeklies, divided the remaining 9% with readership percentages never exceeding 3%.
The leading monthly magazines were Arabic-language women’s magazines. Among the English language magazines, Jordan Business and Jo scored highest with 3.5% of respondents affirming they had read or flipped through the publication during the previous month. All other publications on the list scored well below 1%.
Two positive points need to be made. First, while the readership of newspapers was significantly lower than expected, a remarkable 80% to 90% of respondents said they have read a daily on the Internet, yet so far the worldwide web in Jordan hardly attracts any advertisement. Second, a separate poll among “opinion leaders,” concluded that 92% had read a newspaper during the previous month and 58% the previous day.
Without a doubt, the survey’s big winner was radio, as no less than 57% respondents replied they had listened to a channel during the previous 7 days, while 46% tuned in during the previous day. Radio has blossomed in Jordan since 2002, when the Audiovisual Media Law largely liberalized the air waves.
While before 2002, Jordan’s citizens could only listen to Radio Jordan in either Arabic or English, today there are over 25 channels. According to the JMS, Fann FM proved the most popular with a listenership of 32.3%, followed by Quran FM (20.6%), Rotana FM (15%), Jor FM (14.4%), Jor AM (11.3%) and Mazaj FM (7.6%).
More than they’re due?
“Print media has a penetration rate of but 42.8% for dailies, and much less for weeklies and monthlies, yet it receives more than 80% of the country’s ad expenditure,” said IREX’ Samuel Compton. “Radio has a penetration rate of 56.9%, yet receives but 8% of total ad spend.”
Seeing the success of Jordanian radio, one wonders why the Jordanian government has failed to allow for a private TV channel to compete with the country’s state-owned dinosaur JTV. It would no doubt be welcomed by viewers and advertisers alike, as an advertisement campaign ideally makes use of all media outlets. While print media the world over are confronted with shrinking budgets, Jordan’s own may hope that the status quo prevails, as long as they receive the lion share of ad spend.
