Madar Resarch reports that online advertising spend in the GCC-Levant region registered a growth twice the global rate in 2007. Travel/Hospitality and Real Estate sectors emerged as top online advertising spenders in the region during the past year with a combined outlay comprising nearly half (45%) of the total online spend.

As in previous years, the ongoing rapid growth in online advertising spend in the GCC-Levant region still failed to
deliver a market share on par, or at least comparable, with the current world statistics. However, this scenario is expected to improve over the long term as the global market reaches maturity, causing a stable, less rapid growth compared to that of the regional market.

Overall global advertising spend grew by 5.2% last year (2007) fuelled by developing markets, whose advertising spend growth managed to offset the comparatively slower growth experienced in developed markets like the United States. On the other hand, total ad spending in the GCC-Levant region rose by approximately 19.4% in 2007, with UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar registering the most growth.

The Amercian online marketing journal, eMarketer, reports that  online advertising spending in the Arab World is expected to grow to $142 million by the end of 2011, quoting to a recent study by Madar Research.

Madar looked at the Arab regions of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Levant countries bordering the eastern shores of the Mediterranean.

The company said that marketers in the GCC countries spent less than 5% of their overall ad budgets on online media in 2006 and that online ad spending there represented less than 1% of the global total.

Companies in the region generally say they can still reach their target audiences without campaigning online.

Aviation travel and hospitality accounted for almost a quarter of online ad spending in the GCC-Levant countries in 2006, at $4.68 million. Banking and finance companies in the region spent $3.28 million on online ads in 2006.