Yahoo Bets On Mid-East Advertising Uptick, Acquires Arabic Site

Yahoo plans to incorporate Arabic-language its own branded content and services, in addition to Arabic versions of Yahoo’s Messenger and Yahoo Mail services.

Although Internet adoption in the region has been comparatively slow compared to other parts of the world, Yahoo is betting that online advertising will take off in the Middle East . Yahoo cites figures from Madar Research that forecasts that spending on online advertising is expected to climb 35 to 40 percent this year in the region.

"We see great growth potential in both audience and advertising in the Arab world and combining with Maktoob.com will allow us to quickly build our presence there with high quality products, said Nilsson, senior vice president, Emerging Markets, Yahoo, in a statement. “This is a big win for publishers, advertisers, and consumers in the region.”

Founded in founded in 2000 by Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury as the world’s first free Arabic/English Web-based email service. According to Yahoo, the site boasts more than 16.5 million unique users, and is available in countries in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.