News

OVAB Europe expands into MENA

January 17, 2011

OVAB, the group established to raise awareness and develop standards for the emerging digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising industry in Europe, is expanding its reach into the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Abu Dhabi-based AD Media Digital Out of Home (AD Media DOOH), whose Al Barq Digital brand operates a fast-growing DOOH network in the largest shopping malls in the UAE, is the first member to join OVAB (the Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau) in the region.

"Advertising is a global business with major global holding companies controlling media spend, so the more work our industry does to establish common ways to create, sell, buy and measure this new medium, the more we'll all benefit," OVAB Europe President Dirk Huelsermann said in a recent press release. "There are so many business ties and shared brands across Europe and the Middle East that this is an easy, natural fit."

The initial goal of OVAB's expansion into MENA, along with building membership, is raising awareness of the need for formalized media standards and effective measurements that help build credibility and acceptance among media buying groups and brand advertisers.

"Digital out-of-home media is particularly new in this region," Al Barq Digital general manager Andrew Wood said. "So we have a somewhat unique opportunity here to apply many of the ideas, tools and insights developed by OVAB Europe to a sector that's just getting itself established."

The quarterly Digital Signage Business Climate Index, known as DBCI Europe, will have a new, parallel Middle East version beginning with Q1 2011. Media, brand and industry stakeholders will be approached with the aim of getting a better read on the business climate for this sector, and to also drive awareness of OVAB and its activities.

Huelsermann noted in the release that the drive by Al Barq to establish the regional wing is particularly important because the start-up, which turned on its first screens in mid-2010, is backed by one the Middle East's largest and fastest-growing media organizations, Abu Dhabi Media Company, which has dozens of diverse media properties in broadcast, online and print.