LONDON: The coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on studios across the Middle East as lockdowns and curfews in the region have halted or postponed productions at a time when most people are watching TV.
“It’s once in a lifetime, or several lifetimes, where you have a condition where nobody is doing anything except consuming media and cooking. For media people like us, this is heaven,” MBC Group TV Director Ali Jaber told Arab News.
“The problem is that ad-supported media is suffering because there are no ads, because there are no businesses other than FMCGs (fast-moving consumer goods) like Persil, Detol and products that you can find at the supermarket that are available now,” he said.
TV stations “have the eyeballs, but they can’t turn them into money through attracting advertising,” he added.
Jaber said ad-supported media is taking punches from two sides: The production and content-securing side, and the advertising side, which is what stations rely on most for financing.
Tarek Ayntrazi, CEO of digital marketing network Generation C, also sees the ironic situation in which the media finds itself, with reports that TV viewership has reached record levels. “However, most advertisers are nowhere to be seen,” he told Arab News.
The problem is that ad-supported media is suffering because there are no ads, because there are no businesses other than FMCGs (fast moving consumer goods) like Persil, Detol and products that you can find at the supermarket that are available now.
Ali Jaber, MBC Group TV director
“This is a short-sighted strategy. Brands that advertise smartly during times of crisis will be recognized by consumers.”
Cheap, live shows, and “corona-friendly” shows that can adapt to the current situation, are the only forms of new productions available, Ayntrazi said.
One example he gave was of reality game show “Family Feud,” where the presenter and both contestant families are at home, with the era of studio audiences going obsolete. “The whole production paradigm is going to change, and the media is changing,” he said.
While subscription-based streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime seem to be reaping the benefits of social distancing and quarantine, their luck is bound to run out.
Although they are attracting a lot of subscribers in the short term, “they’ll hit a wall in securing fresh and new production to put on the screen and feed audiences,” Jaber said.
Netflix’s stock has reportedly increased by more than 30 percent year-to-date, with analysts raising subscriber growth estimates in the first quarter of 2020.
“They (Netflix) are adding subscribers, making more money and changing people’s behavior,” Ayntrazi said. “However, keep in mind that all these companies are loss-making still.”