Versatile Amphibian

You might remember that we've been doing a series of consumer research pieces with the Associated Press on the future of news in various regions. This leg of the journey took us to the Middle East, where we covered three markets: UAE, KSA and Egypt. I presented this at the Arab Media Forum this afternoon. Major findings: Middle Eastern residents are avid consumers of the news - on average they'll take in 72 minutes a day, which is the same as their counterparts in Europe Trust is the most important driver for selecting a news channel. Interestingly, speed is almost irrelevant - only six percent of respondents said that it mattered, which goes against traditional thinking... ...and probably reflects the fact that social currency from news is gained by depth of understanding rather than being the first person to hear about it Half of online news users discover stories on social media and 45 percent of users share a story at least once a day This reflects the importance o...

I spent last week in Dubai attending the Arab Media Forum and visiting with a number of local media and telecoms companies. Development of a large media – particularly TV and movie - industry seems to feature on the strategic plans of almost all Arab states, so I was interested in getting an impression of how they compare as well as a sense for how the Arabic media industry in general is evolving. A long (form) journey To date, Arabic media’s greatest success is to create at least one global news brand – Al Jazeera – which has been instrumental in expressing the Arab voice in the region and worldwide. The overwhelming sense I got in the this visit (and in previous ones) was that the desired next step was to have the same clarity of voice in long form content as they do in short form. This is particularly for engagement of the Arabic diaspora worldwide, who are currently poorly catered for. To achieve this, my view is that regional producers need to improve the overall quality of ...