Boosting the amount of Arabic-language content on the internet, including the number of Arabic articles on Wikipedia, would help increase advertising spending in digital media, says the chief executive of the largest online advertising network in the MENA region.
Only between 1 and 2 per cent of the region's advertising outlay goes to online media, but boosting local content, along with more internet penetration and building up broadband infrastructure, could lift this, said Isam Bayazidi, the head of the Ikoo advertising network.
Online ad revenue in the pan-Arab region will rise by between 70 and 80 per cent this year to between US$100 million (Dh367.3m) and $110m, Mr Bayazidi said.
"Most of the growth is outside the UAE, in [Saudi Arabia], Egypt and Morocco," he said. "But to increase the online spend [in the MENA region] from 1 per cent to 4 or 5 per cent of the total market, we need to push content."
Mr Bayazidi said he was in talks with Wikipedia contributors to look at boosting Arabic articles. Despite being the fifth most-spoken language in the world, there are only 128,610 Arabic entries on Wikipedia, ranking it the 24th language by number of articles. Wikipediahas more than 3.3 million articles in English.
Norwegian is spoken by just 5 million people, but there are more than twice the number of Wikipedia articles in Norwegian as Arabic. There are more Wikipedia articles in Esperanto, an artificial language, than Arabic.
"I have been in talks with the guys at the Arabic Wikipedia to see how we can help them grow," Mr Bayazidi said. "It would help us in an indirect way. One of the things holding back the growth of internet advertising is the availability of online content.
"The Arabic language is the fifth most-spoken language in the world, but the Wikipedia for it was in a sorry state. I was leading the Arabic Wikipedia for three years [starting in 2004-2005]. When I came in [I] found the Arabic Wikipedia had about 10 articles, which was pathetic."
Wael Ghonim, Google's product and marketing manager for MENA, agrees that more Wikipedia content in Arabic could help boost ad revenues. He said he launched a drive to create more Arabic Wikipedia entries last year by recruiting a group of students at Cairo University.
"Last year we noticed Arabic content on Wikipedia was pretty low. The Indonesian version had 60 million words, the Portuguese version had 140 million, but the Arabic version had only 22 million. This was a joke considering that 350 million people speak Arabic."
After the campaign the Arabic content on Wikipedia rose by 7 million words, Mr Ghonim said.
Mr Bayazidi said he was confident online advertising spending would increase, adding his company was on a regional expansion drive. Ikoo was founded as E-Marketing in 2005 and sells ads across 120 regional websites.
This year it was acquired by Jabbar Group, which comprises most of the remaining assets of the Maktoob Group after Yahoo bought it last year.
@Email:bflanagan@thenational.ae
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
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Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
Financial considerations before buying a property
Buyers should try to pay as much in cash as possible for a property, limiting the mortgage value to as little as they can afford. This means they not only pay less in interest but their monthly costs are also reduced. Ideally, the monthly mortgage payment should not exceed 20 per cent of the purchaser’s total household income, says Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching.
“If it’s a rental property, plan for the property to have periods when it does not have a tenant. Ensure you have enough cash set aside to pay the mortgage and other costs during these periods, ideally at least six months,” she says.
Also, shop around for the best mortgage interest rate. Understand the terms and conditions, especially what happens after any introductory periods, Ms Glynn adds.
Using a good mortgage broker is worth the investment to obtain the best rate available for a buyer’s needs and circumstances. A good mortgage broker will help the buyer understand the terms and conditions of the mortgage and make the purchasing process efficient and easier.
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Company%20Profile
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'Top Gun: Maverick'
Rating: 4/5
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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