Traditional advertising sector will grow only 5 per cent in 2012, while online branding will increase by 50 per cent to an estimated $20 billion as more companies look to digital to build the long-term value for their brands, said a report.

Deloitte’s annual predictions report on the top global media trends for 2012 was revealed in the Middle East at this year’s Qatar ICT Conference & Exhibition (Qitcom).

“There is a lack of audience measurement systems in the Middle East that, as in other markets, allow advertisers to assess the reach and impact of their advertisements through traditional mediums. Digital platforms on the other hand, offer a more quantifiable return on investment,” said Santino Saguto, partner in charge for the Telecommunications, Media and Technology (TMT) industry, Deloitte Middle East.

“The digital advertising market in the region is expected to grow dramatically in the coming years due to emerging digital platforms, representing then a big opportunity for advertisers and overall industry development,” he added.

The 2012 Deloitte media predictions report suggests that more  sophisticated methods for measuring the success of online branding campaigns - such as Real Time Bidding which allows companies to specify exactly where and in what context their ads will appear - have transformed digital marketing campaigns from its humble beginnings of banner ads.

Advertisers have also increasingly turned their efforts to tailoring adverts specifically for the online world via videos and social media campaigns although companies will need to develop new skills as the prominence of digital branding increases.

Other Deloitte 2012 media predictions include:

Smartphone and tablet owners will watch five billion hours of catch-up television content on their devices while on public transport in 2012, as the age of the “catch-up commuter” starts to take off.

The 2012 Deloitte media predictions  indicate that there are, however, technological challenges related to recording content onto phones and televisions and the legality of doing so it not always clear. However the surge in tablet and smartphones sale - with half a billion expected to be in people’s hands by the end of the year - will drive the market.

With the growth of social networks and the popularity of social gaming taking off in 2010 and 2011, the Deloitte media predictions indicate that the financial potential of ‘social gaming’ has been drawn to the public’s attention.

However companies need to evolve away from the ‘freemium’ model that has propelled them into the spotlight to take a greater portion of the $63 billion global games market from 2 per cent this year.

Online coupon intermediaries

One of the 2012 Deloitte media predictions is that the online coupon sector has evolved rapidly from novelty to celebrity over the course of 2011 but 2012 is the year that it is likely to settle into a small niche, albeit one that generates billions of dollars in revenue.

The sector’s rapid evolution means that hundreds of companies will disappear during 2012 as competition continues to intensify and margins decline. The number of people using online vouchers should also decline moderately. Intermediaries that sit between the consumer and the retailer will continue to generate billions of dollars but will need to increase the quality and variety of offers available.

They may also need to accept lower commissions on sales of coupons - which can be as high as 50 per cent - to entice more retailers to consider using their services as well as shifting their focus from discount size to value, utility or even rarity to change the perception of the service they offer.

As to another top media trend for 2012, the Deloitte report predicts that for all the talk of the death of linear television, 95 per cent of all television programmes watched in 2012 will be live or within a day of the original broadcast.

Technology has not shattered the TV schedule which has remained surprisingly powerful. A leading video-streaming company has even acknowledged that it is not directly competing against traditional linear television and offered a service it dubbed “re-run TV.”

“Even the advent of social networks has enhanced, rather than diminished, the schedule’s appeal as commentary on programs has expanded from the living room to a community. This may be because we are hard-wired to prefer routine. Conventional broadcasters need to build on this power and show advertisers the advantages of the schedule and building campaigns within the context of a schedule,” said Saguto. – TradeArabia News Service