Yahoo sees more ME investment, says CEO.

Summary: DUBAI - Yahoo, the world's premier digital media company, will continue its focus with more investment in the Middle East as the region has massive opportunity in the growth of the Web, Chief Executive Officer 
Carol Bartz said.

DUBAI - Yahoo, the world's premier digital media company, will continue its focus with more investment in the Middle East as the region has massive opportunity in the growth of the Web, Chief Executive Officer 
Carol Bartz said.

The company is planning to announce more new products in the region and the latest one is mobile product, which is coming next week. Another new product will be announced at the beginning of Ramadan that will focus activities of the Holy month, starting from August 1.

"When we look around the world, the Middle East and North Africa is one of the most exciting markets for us at Yahoo, with a combination of rapid user growth and a very attractive advertising market with incredible potential," Bartz told reporters during a news conference in Dubai on Tuesday.

"Arabic is also one of the fastest growing languages on the Internet, yet only 1 per cent of online content is in Arabic today," Bartz added. "Part of Yahoo's investment in MENA is to facilitate the growth of the Arabic language online."

Bartz, during here address to the media, discussed Yahoo's local teams and commitment to the region; the company's commitment to growing Arabic content online; new products the company has planned for the region; and the growing online advertising opportunity.

Yahoo acquired Maktoob in November 2009, and since this point the company has invested in fully staffed offices across Dubai, Amman, Cairo, Riyadh and Casablanca. "Because our teams are local, we understand what people need and in turn develop our products accordingly to serve up the right content. This is a big differentiator for us. We are not just a technology company, we create deeply personal digital experiences," 
said Bartz.

Arabic content online

Bartz cited that the thirst for high quality and relevant content in Arabic can be seen in the company's engagement on its properties.

In the past year and a half since Yahoo acquired Maktoob, the combined reach of the company has grown from 30 million unique users to 50 million. The Arabic Yahoo Maktoob homepage launched last November and it is already the fifth most popular Yahoo homepage in the world today. Only the US, Taiwan, India and Indonesia have more readers.

"We are making our content mobile, since mobile penetration for this region is growing at an incredible rate," said Bartz.

"This month we will introduce our Yahoo Maktoob homepage for mobile in both Arabic and English. Also look for mobile versions of our media properties, like news 
and sports."

Video is also an important area for Yahoo as broadband penetration continues to rise in the Middle East.

Bartz said that Yahoo has plans to invest more in Video On Demand service to deliver content from popular Arabic TV series, movies
and music videos.

New products

Bartz also shared details of Yahoo's new Ramadan product. Under the theme "Ramadan Around the World, Ramadan Where You Are", Yahoo's Middle East editorial team will personally select lifestyle and religious content from its News, Women, Video and omg properties, and popular forums.

"No one else has the ability to draw from such a rich selection of content, and make it so personally relevant to users," Bartz said about the Ramadan site.

Online advertising

Bartz emphasised the opportunity these new Yahoo experiences -- along with the growth of the Internet in the region -- create to extend the company's lead in online advertising. 
--abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com

Already, Yahoo Maktoob is the number one in the Middle East and North Africa for display advertising, with 40 per cent market share.

Online ad spend for the region is currently only two per cent of total advertising spend for the entire region. By way of comparison, online spend in France is around 15 per cent and in the UK it's 25 per cent.

However, Bartz noted that the region is host to the fastest growing advertising market in the world, with average year-on-year growth in digital spending around 25-30 per cent.

"We envision the online ad market in MENA to reach at least 5-7 per cent of the total ad market by 2015," said Bartz. "And with our strong agency and client relationships -- along with our leadership in Science, Art, and Scale -- I am confident we'll be there to deliver the benefits."


abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com

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