The incredible ascension of Arab TV channels and audience behavior of Tunisians

Democratised Access to TV Broadcasting

Currently, around 40% of Arab households have access satellite-broadcasting channels. This ate is expected to rise to 68% by 2010 (i.e. 41 million Arab households).

The number of Arab TV channels has doubled up from 2004 to now. There are about 250 of them now, and 70% of them deal with thematic programs, and the remaining 30% with general programs.

To set up a thematic, musical or any other TV channel nowadays, the average budget would be about 5 million US$. Satellite TV broadcasting costs around 300 000 US$.

In addition to the theoretical ads proceeds, which amount to around 2 billion US$ for the overall Arab TV channels, (this figure does not take into account the discounts, sometimes quite important, granted by Aran TV channels to announcers), the economic model is more and more based on interactivity, and notably value-added services, such as SMS voting or dedications, interactive games, info alert on mobile phones, …A program such “La Nouvelle Star” (X factor of the American Fremantle Company), broadcast on Future TV (Hariri Group – Lebanon) has collected, in 2005, a total number of around 10 million SMSs, from all over the Arab World. On the basis of its own estimates, the channel would receive around 30 million SMSs by 2006.

The development of the media-dedicated city concept, like the Media City in Cairo, a pioneer in this field, and notably DMC – Dubai Media City, has enhanced the incredible ascension in the number of TV channels in the Arab World. Launched in 2001, the DMC currently boasts 960 companies specialized in this sector, 135 of which are TV channels, 120 newspaper editors, publishing 350 titles and employing 12 000 staff members. Jordan, Morocco and other Arabs countries currently invest in such concepts so as to develop the audio-visual industry, deemed as quite cost-effective for two major reasons: financial productivity and broadcasting opportunities for each country…

Huge budgets for news channelssting

After having started with a budget of 150 million US$ in 1996, the current annual budget of Al Jazeera amounts to 85 million US$. When it started in 2003, its direct Saudi-media private competitor MBC had a budget of about 200 US$.

Al Jazeera international program, due to start broadcasting in mid May 2006, will require a budget of about 1 billion US$. 250 journalists, from 30 different countries, will be hired for this program. It will target an audience of 150 million of potential viewers, most of them coming from Asian countries.

In another respect, the BBC also envisages to launch a news channels in 2007, The Arab BBC channel (offices in Cairo and London). It will require a budget of 35 million US$. Al Hurra, American state-run TV channel, was launched in 2004 with a budget of 62 million US$ (a budget voted on annual basis by the Congress). In terms of audience so far, this channel does not enjoy the success expected prior to its launching.

TV audience in Tunisia.

Surveys conducted by Sigma Conseil in March and April 2006, all over Tunisia, have revealed, yet again, a relatively high penetration of the national channels Tunis 7 (state-run) and Hannibal TV (a private one). They enjoys a daily audience rate of 52.2% and 21.5%, respectively. They are followed by LBC channel, with an audience rate of 14.9%, thanks to its highly-successful program “Star Academy”, by Rotana Cinema, with an audience rate of 10.3%, and then Al Jazeera, with an audience rate of 9.0%. Then comes MBC2 cinema channel, with 5.3%, daily, 4.1% for Rotana musical channel, and 3.7% for Abu Dhabi TV, the general TV channel in the UAE. The French TV channels, M6 and TF1, rank ninth and tenth respectively, and iin therms of audience, with 3.0% each.

Tunisians watch TV for 2 hours and 50 minutes on average. 93.2% of them watch TV daily. Tunis 7 viewers watch it for 59 minutes, on average, whereas Hannibal TV viewers watch it for 63 minutes.

On Tunis 7, and in terms of audience, three programs exceed 10%. Dlilek Mlek (Tunisian version of Deal or not top Deal) attracts 40% of Tunisians every evening. Then comes the sitcom Choufli Hal which attracts an average audience for each one of its episodes broadcast twice a week (Wednesday and Friday during the second half of the evening). It enjoys an audience of 23%. Then, comes the news program, broadcast at 8.00 p.m., and has an audience of 11.3%.

For Hannibal TV channel, the most popular programs are respectively : the evening Egyptian serial program (8% of the audience), the daily recap of Star Academy (Lebanon), with a daily audience rate of 5%. Then, comes the program of Souia Sport which attracts 5% of the Tunisian audience.

We should note the relative homogeneity of the Tunisian audience, from North to South and from the coastal shore to the inland. The most popular channels are virtually the same ones, and the successful programs also rank almost in the same order.