Page 10 - Gulf Marketing Review

What should be at the core of the mar-
keting strategy of any media company in
the region?
For any media title or channel to succeed in this
region or anywhere, it’s crucial for it to know its
brand value in the market. If you do not have
a unique selling point, or if you don’t have a
clear value proposition in the marketplace, it
becomes quite difficult to compete.
That’s why, at the BBC, we’ve always made
sure to focus on our USP and are quite optimistic
of our growth in the region and globally. Driven
by our commitment, we have set a target of
reaching 500 million people a week by 2022,
the centenary year of the BBC.
Media organisations, which are really
struggling, are the ones too indistinct from
their competitor and not sufficiently scalable
to survive.

Given issues such as click-bait, brand safety
and ad fraud, how do you think digital media
should brace for the emerging challenges
coming its way?
Five years ago, it would have Our pitch has been clearly international, giving Brands or advertisers have a big role to play
been easier to assume that our audience the highest-quality internation- in sorting the challenges that digital media
digital was going to kill TV al news coverage. And although we offer is facing. They will have to take a conscious
news stations. But, on the some customised, region-focussed content; decision about where they place their ads
contrary, it really hasn’t we don’t see ourselves in competition with online. We have seen some examples of
national networks. how the quality of ads is dropping out of the
market, primarily because the commercial
In fact, our English international TV audience What has been your stance – do you sup- model is not working well. So it’s not just the
and the world news audience base is growing port the Arab point of view and take it to quantity; the quality of the content and the
in the region. Globally, the TV audience for your global audience? Or do you bring brand’s ethical quotient also matter when it
BBC world news has gone up by 12 per cent a Western viewpoint to the Middle East comes to digital media. This generates from
in the last year. Five years ago, it would have audience? the growing realisation that the number of
been easier to assume that digital was going That’s a really good question. So, certainly not clicks and impressions do not mean everything
to kill TV news stations. But, on the contrary, it the latter and we don’t see ourselves as being in digital media. To a large extent, this has
really hasn’t. I believe there’ll still be a huge a sort of broadcast arm of the UK government. triggered developments such as fake news,
appetite for TV news and, though digital is We’re not about representing “Western views” click-bait and ad fraud. In many cases, relying
growing alongside it’s not going to cannibalise to the Middle East audiences either. purely on the plain, raw number of ad clicks
the TV audience. In a nutshell, there’s room We think the audiences who know and has backfired for many brands. Instead, there
to grow for both the segments. value the BBC in this region understand that is an urgent need for a discussion on how to
our premium quality offer is about our inde- value quality clicks and engagement, instead
There are a lot of Arabic channels here ca- pendence. And independence doesn’t mean of paid clicks.
tering to their captive audiences. Where do it’s a Western viewpoint; it just means inde-
you find your niche? Where does the BBC fit? pendent, high-quality content – online or TV. (For more, log onto gulfmarketingreview.com)

10 I GULF MARKETING REVIEW I DECEMBER 2017/FEBRUARY 2018