The Choueiri Group’s companies represent some of the most powerful media in the Middle East. As a holding group, its subsidiaries specialize in media representation, selling outdoor space, marketing and organizing events.
Started in Lebanon in the early 1970s by Antoine Choueiri to sell space for Al Mawaad advertising magazine, the business shifted to France in 1975 and later expanded to the GCC.
That was when Pierre Choueiri, now 42, arrived, fresh out of university, to join the team handling the advertising space of Abu Dhabi TV.
Today he has risen to manage the group, which is spread across the region as the representative for the Middle East’s biggest broadcasters such as MBC Group, LBC Group and Dubai TV Group.
Communicate: How do you manage such a large business and staff in terms of HR?
Pierre Choueiri: You have to create a family. When I say that, I mean to have one family. It’s not easy, but you must choose the people who are around you. They should be decision-makers – be able to take decisions and implement them – but I would say friendship is key. I don’t call them my employees: they are my colleagues, my buddies. Without them I can do nothing.
Communicate: How big is the company?
Pierre Choueiri: In the UAE the “family” consists of more than 100 people. The whole group is around 500 people. We’ve got 13 companies that cover MENA, Europe and North Africa.
Communicate: Have you now taken over most of the running from your father, Antoine?
Pierre Choueiri: My father is very much active. Very much, with capital letters all over, underlined. And I am happy he is very active. He is 69 and is the pillar of the group.
I am very proud my father is still involved. He is the chairman of the group, he has experience, he has a strong background, and I am lucky to be so close to him so he can pass on a lot of things. You need experience, although each of us has his own style, his own way of seeing things.
Communicate: What is the ad spend per capita in the region?
Pierre Choueiri: We estimate it to be around $11 per capita per year in the region. We still have a long way to go before we reach cruising speed in the advertising market. We still have one of the smallest advertising spends in the world, even compared to poorer regions. This is changing.
Communicate: How is it changing?
Pierre Choueiri: In September 2004, we decided, along with the TV channels we represent, to implement the limit of 12 minutes of advertising per hour of program as of January 1, 2005. It was a non-negotiable decision applicable throughout the year, with one exception, which is Ramadan.
Communicate: So it was sudden?
Pierre Choueiri: We had two options. We could say this is the news and there are new ways as of January 2005, take it or leave it. But although the decision was sudden, we implemented it gradually. If we didn’t do things gradually, some of the clients would get out of the market.
We are firm believers in the golden triangle – that is, the advertiser, the agency/MBU and the media, all of which have to work together. Through this partnership we managed to accommodate the needs of each client, and witness a yearly total market growth of 15 to 20 percent.
Communicate: How much was it growing before regulation came in?
Pierre Choueiri: Only God knows. Before that there were price wars between the different media, and clutter in advertising breaks. There were big discounts. I know my figures, but unless you handle all the media or all the media publishes their figures, it is impossible to make even an educated guess about the size and growth of a market.
Communicate: What about North Africa?
Pierre Choueiri: We believe in the importance and the potential of the North African market. This is why we already have opened an office in Casablanca. However we also are aware that due to the market dynamics in North Africa it is more of a long-term project that should not hinder our focus on the Middle East market. We strongly feel that the Middle East market at large and the TV market in particular are way below their potential. We estimate the pan-Arab TV spend to be actually running at around $600 million.
It should be much more than that.
Communicate: What’s the state of play with people meters?
Pierre Choueiri: People meters should be in place by the end of 2009. They need to make what’s called the establishment survey – that takes time. Then you need to start putting the boxes inside the homes of the chosen sample, then testing them, then educating the sample on how to use people meters.
Our own experience with people meters in Lebanon shows that from the moment the industry gives the start signal, between 12 and 18 months are needed for the project to be fully operational and people meters should be there by mid 2009 to third quarter 2009.
Communicate: What other problems need to be addressed?
Pierre Choueiri: Television station owners need to know how their programs are really performing, because a good program costs the same as a bad
program. Actually, the bad program costs more, because you have to rework brand image and reinforce it.
Advertisers need to evaluate their ROI. We can say that media owners need data even more than advertisers. Once a program is produced or purchased the process is irreversible, while a campaign can be amended at any time.
Until people meters become operational, the main issue to be addressed is the creation of a solid research currency that will provide all the players of the industry with accurate and reliable data based on which decisions can be safely made.
There is an under-declaration of the Saudi population watching TV. Existing research shows that in KSA, during peak times – from 9pm to midnight – the total viewership is 42 percent. Then what are the remaining 58 percent doing?
Contrast this with the Egyptian market – where there is a lot of out-of-home entertainment – where viewing during the same peak times is between 80 and 85 percent. It does not make any sense.
So now research companies in the GCC are working closely with the clients and the media buying units to create a new methodology that will reflect a more realistic and reliable assessment of TV viewership.
Communicate: Where will the funding come from?
Pierre Choueiri: All over the world people meters are media-financed.
The advertisers are the driving force behind the implementation of people meters, but the financing should be done by the media. Why? For one simple reason: Because it’s the media who are getting the most benefit out of the people meters, not the advertisers.
The people meter will come. We already have this model. In Lebanon they have people meters, which are financed by the media or the media representatives and controlled by the advertisers and the MBUs.
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