Telecoms are the leading ad spenders in Ramadan

In case you were wondering as I did, telecom companies are the biggest ad spenders in Ramadan.
Apparently a single running costs around 32,000 EGP on private television channels (which is a little less than double the regular price).

The numbers for last year's advertising expenditure were recently made available by PARC, the Pan-Arab Research Center; they're only a guideline for this year's ad spending, but you can get idea of the money these companies are putting down:

1. Etisalat Egypt: $56 million.
2. Zain (all markets): $52 million
3. Mobinil: $50 million
4. Chevrolet (global): $38 million
5. Mobily (Saudi Arabia)

Four out of the five top spenders are telecoms, apparently spending about $200 million. Just that.

This year, it is clear that Coca Cola, Pepsi and Vodafone Egypt are also sparing no expense to be on people's radar. I'll look forward to this year's numbers!

Then when the numbers are out, I'll compare those to the money spent on their CSR campaigns. Mobinil has a training programme for the unemployed; Etisalat Egypt has a water and sanitation project; Vodafone Egypt promises a massive literacy programme.

Not that I can claim adv money would be better spent otherwise - the return on this investment needs to be calculated. But just for comparison purposes... :)