2nd October 2011, UAE.

Dan Healy, the CEO of the Dubai-based research company Real Opinions, which conducted the research, commented: "The regional airline industry has gone through a transformation in recent years, emulating what happened in the regional flights sector in Europe at the turn of the millennium. The prolific growth of low cost airlines and the resultant consolidation in this industry segment has naturally created winners and losers, but passengers are the real winners as they now have more choice to better match their budget and required service levels."

In a further boost for the aviation industry, the introduction of low cost airlines also appears to have grown the overall market as 87% of the 538 respondents agreed that "Cheaper airfares encourage me to fly more often in the region". This is backed up with a sense of adventure to journey where they haven't been before with 86% supporting the statement ''I like experiencing new cultures and adventures".

The parallel growth of the Internet in the Middle East has also come at an opportune time for

low cost airlines; more than 90% of respondents agreed that "There are greater cost savings and choice when you search and book flights online".

Healy added: "We have been very active in the region researching the evolution of the Internet and advertising practices from a consumer's perspective. Our past research has shown that 72% of UAE Internet users have purchased online and flights are top of the list."

However, the research indicates there are still travellers who prefer to deal with travel agents, and on average 67% of travellers reported travel agents now also include low cost airlines in their quotes.

About the Research
The research was conducted online using the Real Opinions UAE online panel for 1 week Wednesday 20^th to Tuesday 26^thJuly 2011. It was conducted in both English (58%) & Arabic (42%) with n=538 respondents.

About Real Opinions
Real Opinions is a full-service market research company, specialising in online media, with global and Middle East research expertise and best practice. Based in Dubai, Real Opinions has proven ability to help strategically guide and assess the effectiveness of campaigns.

Real Opinions abides by the codes of conduct from ESOMAR, an international organisation for market research.

For more information about Real Opinions, visit http://www.real-opinions.com or follow @realopinions on Twitter.

To contact them and for any inquiries about this research project:

inquiry@real-opinions.com
www.real-opinions.com

19th May 2009, Dubai
Real Opinions, a leading Internet research agency based in Dubai and London is inviting the Middle East Internet Industry to gather at their forum on 28th of May to announce and discuss the eagerly anticipated trial results of the Effective Measure website audience measurement solution.

Over 80 websites are participating in the trial and the forum will focus on the results and analysis techniques from 3 perspectives: website publishers, Internet media buyers and Internet advertisers. This will help them to harness the full potential Effective Measure offers and to help build confidence in the Internet advertising industry with unprecedented insight and accuracy.
Dan Healy, CEO of Real Opinions added “We really do mean it when we say this is unprecedented accuracy and insight for the global industry with this breakthrough solution being showcased in the Middle East. We are profiling website visitors by not only their demographics, but a more in depth segmentation of who they are in terms of lifestyle, personality, purchase influence, whether they’re an early adopter or a leader capable of influencing the opinions of others. This information is collected non-stop throughout the year 24/7 on each participating website as we know visitor traffic can shift in a matter of minutes with viral communication on breaking news or offers. This impact is what makes the Internet so unique and influential, so we believe anything else like a quarterly or annual measurement approach just doesn’t work in this medium.”

Healy added “Effective Measure's single most important feature is 'Digital Helix'. This solves the issue of over calculation of unique website visitors (often called unique browsers for those in the industry) caused by visitors deleting their ‘cookies’ which are stored on a user's computer by a website to identify them when they return. Don’t let others pretend that this isn’t an issue, because the global industry has been looking at this on the sidelines for many years as it escalates. Our recent survey with business people in the Middle East showed that over 60% delete these ‘cookies’ on at least a monthly basis and in turn this means some websites could be overestimating their unique figures by over 60% for this target group. It also allows you to see the overlap of visitors across a number of websites so advertising isn’t targeted at the same visitors. ‘Digital Helix’ is a patent pending solution and is unique to Effective Measure.”

The forum on 28th of May will take place at ‘The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina’ opposite Dubai Internet City at 2:30pm in the Abu Dhabi Room. All those involved in the Internet and advertising industry are invited to attend.

Guest speakers include perspectives from website/publishers, advertisers and media buyers in the region which we will be announcing closer to the event.

Louis Hakim, Vice President of Royal Philip Electronic, CEO of Philips Middle East and Chairman of Advertisers Business Group (ABG) added “Credible performance measurement of media is of paramount importance. Effective Measure's methodology goes beyond numbers and provides insight and data deeper than what we've seen before in this region for online media. We welcome this initiative as we can see great benefit in demonstrating media ROI and validating digital activation."

The ABG is dedicated to bringing international standards and best practices to the local market and aims to foster a fair and accountable marketplace in the Middle East. Their members include a who’s who of leading global advertisers such as Emirates, Nestle, Unilever, Beiersdorf, Kraft and General Motors.

Steve Wheeler, SVP of Emirates Group Corporate Communications who was the keynote speaker at our forum in February this year commented “Emirates Group welcomes the initiative by Real Opinions to introduce the Effective Measure website visitor profiling tool in the Middle East. Any technology that provides more accurate estimates of visitor traffic and advances digital media in Emirates' home market should be embraced by media owners and agencies alike.”

To register your website for the trial, visit: http://register.effectivemeasure.com

About Effective Measure
Effective Measure provides cutting edge digital audience measurement, website rankings, Internet demographics and market intelligence for website publishers, agencies and digital marketers.

Effective Measure’s patent-pending Digital Helix methodology overcomes problems with cookie deletion and unique visitor audience calculation. The solution increases visitation, client visibility and advertising revenue by providing independent third-party analytics to publishers and advertisers around the world.

Effective Measure is an associate subscriber of ABC Electronic.

For more information visit www.effectivemeasure.com

About Real Opinions
Real Opinions is a full-service market research company, specialising in online media, with global and Middle East research expertise and best practice. Based in Dubai and London, Real Opinions has proven ability to help strategically guide communication, insight and assess the effectiveness of campaigns.

Real Opinions is an accredited member of ESOMAR, an international organisation for market research. For more information about us and this study, please visit www.real-opinions.com

Contact Real Opinions for more information:
inquiry@real-opinions.com