The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) GCC announced the start of a three month-long research project at a recent event in Dubai. Funded and supported by industry stakeholders, it will comprehensively size the region’s digital advertising market.

The study will deliver a neutral perspective while ensuring the highest level of data confidentiality, using tried and tested methodologies from the IAB in Europe. The event attracted widespread interest from the industry and was attended by more than 80 industry professionals.

The IAB’s aim is to foster collaboration across the different stakeholders in the market to enhance knowledge, develop research, facilitate training and promote acceptance of standards. It is also to stimulate co-operation in the interest of representing and growing the digital industry.

The IAB GCC’s Research and Measurement Committee explained that a market as large and important as MENA deserves a robust ad market size estimate using globally accepted methodologies and best practices. Hence, it has employed the services of Dr Daniel Knapp from MTM, who has been conducting similar studies for the IAB in Europe for many years.

The findings of this study will provide publishers, advertisers and agencies more reliable data on which to make investment decisions. One of the main benefits of a more robust study is that the market could be found to be larger than often reported. This would increase the level of interest and investment in MENA from brands, publishers and martech companies.

Two years ago, the interim board was tasked with setting up the IAB in the region, legally and operationally, and establishing it as a cornerstone in the global IAB community. The task of the interim board has now been deemed complete and the market sizing exercise will help facilitate the job of the new board to be elected in 2020. The IAB GCC interim board acknowledged the support of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce in this endeavour.

The IAB GCC interim board includes representatives from four publishers (Choueiri Group, Facebook, Google and MMP Worldwide) and three agency groups (GroupM, Omnicom Media Group and Publicis).