Media & Advertising

Recent growth within the media and advertising sector has highlighted the potential of local creative industries. Indeed, going forward the industry is expected to expand considerably, with advertising projected to top $94m in 2015. However, the sector is also undergoing a number of important changes. Newspaper and radio advertising, for example, is expected to decline slightly between 2011 and 2015, while the use of mobile phones to access digital content, we well as the popularity of social media sites are trends that are reshaping the sector. Furthermore, in recent years social networking has overtaken news and information as the most popular online activity among UAE internet users. Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE are also seeing continued efforts to expand the availability of Arabic-language content, another key theme within the sector. This chapter includes an interview with Noura Al Kaabi, CEO, Abu Dhabi Media Zone Authority – twofour54.