The Evolving Mediascape. A Perspective on Qatar and Middle East

Author(s) : Salvino A. Salvaggio & Paolo Barbesino

Bibliographic Details : Research report

Date of Publication : 2007-09

Executive Summary : Even though Qatar offers high economic growth (mainly driven by Oil & Gas), its communication and media industry will further grow only if undergoing dramatic changes that are bound to transform its structure deeply in the years to come :

• proliferation of distribution channels from either a cross-media or a medium specific perspective as a result of more effective technologies available on the market (i.e., dttv, dab, xDSL/cable/fiber, WiMax, edge, umts, hsdpa, etc.)
• continuous emergence and reshaping of new audiences whose main features goes beyond nationality, language, confession
• increasing proactive stance of an even larger amount of the public who has turned into a content provider itself in the wake of an easier access to production and distribution technologies (camera phones; digital cameras; mobile messaging; wikis; blogs and video-blogs)

As a result three competing scenarios appear to be the more likely based on the evolution of technology and background social and economic conditions:

• a conservative scenario that sees satellite television remaining the main (but not the only) medium with both a free to air and a premium proposition
• an accretive development with an increasing local competition, sustaining growth in the market along the value chain (production companies, studios, advertising agencies)
• a disruptive expansion where digital media and post-media/take the lead and drammatically affect both distribution and content production

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