Emarat Al Youm fastest growing daily in the UAE

Arabic language newspaper Emarat Al Youm is the fastest growing newspaper in the country, according to an independently conducted survey.

The survey, conducted by Ipsos Media, revealed that it is the second most popular newspaper among the Arabic reading population in the country.

"Our intention was to become the second choice newspaper in the country and we have achieved that in a short span of three years," said Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper Sami Al Reyami.

The Arab Media Group-owned Emarat Al Youm is the fifth most popular newspaper in the country. With 26.7 per cent of the total Arab population opting for the newspaper it is the third most popular choice in the segment, but is the second most popular newspaper among the Arab and Emirati male readers, amounting to 26.4 per cent of the market share.

Reyami attributes the newspaper's editorial content as the most important part of its success saying: "Design of the paper does help in making it reader-friendly in its approach, but it's our editorial content that appeals to our readers to make it so popular."

In comparison to other Arabic language newspapers in the country, Emarat Al Youm faired ahead of other long time established newspapers such as Al Ittihad and Al Bayan in certain segments.

"We don't intend to challenge other media such as radio or television , but will work to find a niche with socially relevant stories," explains Reyami about the editorial policy of the tabloid-sized newspaper.

In a self-critical mode, Reyami shares that the paper needs to improve on the women-related contents and win over the Emirati and Arab women readers. "That is our next agenda and after raising the bar, we are expecting that competition will also take us more seriously and that requires us to work even harder to move to the next level of achievements."

The independently-conducted research confirmed that Emarat Al Youm was the only newspaper to achieve substantial growth during 2008, while the rest witnessed decline.

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