Forget that offending billboard in Cairo. Take it online, kids!

Photo here.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek article pointing out how online advertizing is beginning to take off in the Middle East, thanks to more Arabs going online and getting mobiles.  Broadband penetration remains low (12% compared to 64% in North America and we’re no great shakes either).  Another trick:  5% of web users/consumers are Arab, but only 1% of the content is Arabic.

Still, there is a leap-frog quality to this development: maybe traditional advertising never makes it in the region like it has in the West, but maybe the online version fills the gap and obviates the old models, which, for a lot of reasons, are trickier to navigate in that part of the world.