[Marxism] 'Oprah' Is Attracting Young, Female Viewers To TV in Saudi Arabia

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Satellite television, the Internet, all these media bring a mix
of good and bad to new places. Oprah Winfrey's afternoon program
brings a lively and intelligent series of conversations to the
people of the United States, and now, to the world. She's very
much a positive presence both culturally and politically, and a
real person with her own challenges and difficulties. It's also
a fact that, being one of the richest Black Americans, and most
likely the richest Black woman in the United States has enabled
her to escape many of the hassles less wealth Blacks have been
able to. But she hasn't been able to escape them all, as she was
bluntly reminded earlier this year in an exclusive French jewelry:
shop, as JR reported: http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs190.html)
================================================================

The Wall Street Journal                 

December 1, 2005        

'Oprah' Is Attracting Young, Female Viewers To TV in Saudi Arabia

By YASMINE EL-RASHIDI
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 1, 2005; Page B1


More than a year after the pan-Arab satellite station MBC started
broadcasting "Oprah" on its channel 4, it made a discovery: The
show's ratings were higher than those of any other English-language
show. The interest was coming from an untapped audience in the
largest country in their coverage area: young Saudi Arabian women.
And what these young women wanted was even more "Oprah," as well as
other programs like it.

"We found 'Oprah' to be the biggest hit with our viewers," says
Andrew Maskall, marketing manager for MBC2 and 4, which are based in
nearby Dubai. "It helped us identify a commercial gap in the market."
Almost a third of Saudi Arabia's population of 26 million people is
women under the age of 25 years old. MBC4's target audience is 18- to
25-year-olds.

When it discovered the popularity of "Oprah," MBC also learned that a
group of women commonly perceived as sheltered and conservative was
actually identifying with the same issues as women around the world.
So along with putting Oprah at the heart of its new programming for
MBC4 -- the show now airs twice a day, five days a week -- MBC
decided to rebrand MBC4 to specifically target young Saudi women.
"We realized that they're our core audience," says Mr. Maskall.

Making "Oprah" the centerpiece of the network is hardly a risk-free
strategy. Oprah Winfrey is a sore spot for many Saudis. Earlier this
year, in a show on "Women Across the Globe," she included Saudi TV
presenter Rania Al-Baz among the 11 interviewees sharing uplifting
stories. Ms. Al-Baz had made headlines in Saudi Arabia last year when
she was nearly beaten to death by her husband. Of the 11 interviews,
hers was the only tale of abuse. After sharing pictures of the
broadcaster in a bruised and battered state, Ms. Winfrey said,
"Thank God we live in America."

In the avalanche of criticism of Ms. Winfrey that followed, one Saudi
columnist wrote, "Oprah is like a sieve that tells the needle that it
has a hole in it. It would have been better if she had spent the time
and money for this segment on doing a service to her own society, and
on revealing the true situation in that society."

In Saudi Arabia, satellite television is officially banned, but the
law is widely ignored and more than nine out of 10 households receive
satellite TV. Still, Maha Akeel, a Saudi journalist, says the
critique against Western programs, especially "Oprah," is constant.
"Weekly there are critics who say they are a cultural invasion and
inappropriate to society, but the shows reach Saudi homes via
satellite, so there's really nothing they nor the government can do."

In any case, Ms. Akeel says, the criticism has done nothing to
diminish Oprah's appeal to young Saudi women. "So often conversations
among young women start with 'Did you see "Oprah" last night?' " She
addresses the issues that Saudi media don't, the issues that are on
these women's minds."

MBC, which is Saudi owned, teamed up with Jeddah-based advertising
agency 3Points to produce the station's new identity, using the
slogan, "It's for you!" The Saudi agency is working with young Saudi
women to address their needs without offending them. Because showing
faces in public-space advertisements is banned for religious reasons
in Saudi Arabia, for example, an avenue to reach women needed to be
found.

It turned out to be placing ads in beauty salons, at women's
universities and in local women's magazines. The ads show Saudi women
adhering to conservative dress codes -- fully covered with none of
their hair showing -- but with a modern touch: colorful backgrounds,
vibrant smiles and clear body language. "The girls in the ads are
covered up, but in a very fashionable way," says Mr. Maskall. All the
shows on MBC4 are broadcast in their original format with Arabic
subtitles.

MBC4's efforts to win over young Saudi women is part of a growing
trend in the region. A recent report by the TNS Female Research
Center in Saudi Arabia encouraged marketers to target Saudi women,
reporting that their stereotype of being timid and oppressed is
outdated. "Women are increasingly seeking ways to express themselves
and their individuality," says Hana Balaa, the director of the
center. She says a major driver of this new adventurousness is the
availability of satellite TV channels. Saudi women are also looking
at their neighbors, like Dubai, or Kuwait, where women recently got
the right to vote."

Ms. Balaa says better education and jobs are also giving Saudi women
a broader perspective. The younger generation, in particular, is much
like Western women: They like to be fashionable, they love to shop,
they fret about their weight, and they discuss crushes, relationships
and aspirations, she says. "They're expressing their opinions more."



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