Dubai: In the month of late nights and short working hours, television tends to become the companion of Arab families as satellite channels and advertisers cash in on a frenzy of TV viewing in the region.
But while some complain about excessive entertainment in an increasingly commercialised atmosphere during Ramadan, people in the industry insist social responsibility is not being undermined.
Najla Al Awadi, Deputy CEO of Dubai Media Incorporated, the parent company of popular local channels such as Dubai TV, Dubai One and Sama Dubai, says the increase of TV viewing during Ramadan is part of a wider regional phenomenon where young people are "reading less and watching more TV."
"During Ramadan, people's lifestyles change and they have shorter work hours, so they have more time to practice their common habits."
According to Mazen Hayek, Group Director of Marketing for Dubai-based MBC, TV viewing in the GCC during Ramadan goes up from four to approximately six hours a day, with television channels devoting significant portions of their annual production budgets for Ramadan programming.
"Ramadan is the peak season for TV viewing in the Arab world," he said, adding MBC1 reserves 20 per cent of its production budget for the month.
Sama Dubai allocates as much as 30 to 35 per cent of its budget to Ramadan programming, says Ahmad Al Mansoori, Deputy Manager of the channel.
"The reason that we're willing to invest in this is because the turnover is so high.
"As much as 50 per cent of our annual advertising revenue comes in Ramadan.
"A majority of the known actors even set the condition that their shows be aired during Ramadan when signing their contracts," he said.
Although Al Mansoori agrees the media has played a role in the commercialisation of Ramadan, he stresses profit-making is not the sole objective of some satellite channels.
"We try to have a religious essence in some of our programmes, but we do not try to impose a specific view on the audience," he said.
Najla agrees: "Each TV channel has a responsibility."
