The first half of 2008 still shows that the United Arab Emirate is ahead Saudi Arabia in advertising expenditures, according to numbers provided by Ipsos. The total advertising spend in the UAE in the first half of 2008 was a whopping 1.1 Billion USD, while the total advertising spend in Saudi Arabia was less than 600 million USD.

Pan Arab media took the lion’s share with 40% of the total spend, leaving 10 other markets in the Middle East with 60% of the total spend that reached 4.9 Billion USD.

The GCC market, represented by UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman generated almost 44% of 2007 advertising spends, which was more than the Pan Arab market. The advertising scene in UAE witnessed an increase in spends that reached to 22% of ad spend, leaving the country in the first position in the domestic Arabian markets. Saudi Arabia, which came second among domestic markets, scored only 12% of total advertising spends.

The report covers three Levant countries, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. Lebanon recorded 312 Million USD. Jordan has a spend of 141 Million USD and Egypt had 297 Million USD.

You can download the full report with numbers and percentages provided by Ipsos by clicking here, for more details please visit Ipsos.