Media and Culture

Khodr Ali Taher has taken over Syria’s largest billboard advertising network, confirming his rise in the business community.

Syria’s advertising market stood at a mere 3.5 billion pounds last year according to an industry executive.

The government is planning to tax online advertising as Syrians have largely shifted to social media for their news and other information services.

Syria’s last surviving classified weekly is reportedly closing as it falls victim of a decline in the advertising market, a switch to online media and a dispute between its owners.

Stagnant sales last year at Syria’s only large media group signal a still distressed media sector.

Syria’s largest media company had a turnover of less than 600 thousand dollars last year, a reflection of the impact of the war on the country’s companies.

A new weekly owned by a local businessman has started publishing in Damascus.

United Group, Syria’s largest media group, has reported an increase in revenues and profits in the first half of this year , although the company has dramatically shrunk in the last four years.

The American administration is amending its sanctions regime to allow some transactions in, and with, the Syrian publishing sector.

After several years of steep decline, United Group, Syria’s largest media group, managed to stabilize its operational performance.

Updated January 16, 2015: The elections to the board of directors of the Damascus and Aleppo Chambers of Commerce at the end of last year witnessed a significant renewal of membership.

Syria’s state-owned news agency has released Hebrew and Persian language services.

For the first time since the beginning of the Syrian uprising, United Group, Syria’s largest media conglomerate, managed in the first of half of this year to stabilize its revenue stream.