Twitter celebrities who have more than one million followers have begun participating in advertising, utilizing the “emplacement method of advertising” to showcase a product subtly so that the celebrity can make money off advertising while retaining credibility with their followers.

Such advertisements have found their way on the accounts of celebrities in the media and sports industries, and even among famous preachers.

According to a recent report in a local newspaper, the cost of one tweet paid to the owners of popular accounts whose followers range from 100,000 to one million stands at SR2,000 to SR5,000, while the cost of one tweet for accounts with more than one million followers stands at SR10,000 to SR20,000. The most costly tweets, it has been revealed, come from a retired Saudi sportsman, whose twitter adverts cost at least SR30,000 each.

Wael Hailem, the owner of a publicity and advertising company, said that the proportion of traditional advertisements making up the industry these days has dropped significantly during the past three years because advertisers are moving toward the use of electronic media forms, which have overtaken the market due to their low cost and wide exposure to the public.

“Digital media is now the dominant tool in the industry because of the rise of social networking sites, electronic newspapers and the other electronic platforms during the past few years,” he added.

Shujaa Khatab, an expert in the advertising business, said that traditional advertisements are limited to announcements in the newspapers and outdoor billboards on the main streets. He added: “These methods have proved to be of limited usefulness in our modern times. Motorists cannot see and read the billboards while driving, for example. This situation dramatically changes among social media outlets which allow consumers to interact with the ads and focus on them.

The other important element in this regard is that the designs are more innovative now, with lower costs and good access to millions of consumers.”

Another advertisement expert, Mamdouh Abdulrahman, said that the future of advertising will be geared toward the electronic system due to many factors: “These include the modern dependence on the technological devices and gadgets such as tablets, smart phones, social networking sites and other handheld devices.”

He said that the number of daily views on YouTube, for example, stands at 195 million, while some active Saudi accounts on Twitter have acquired more than 4 million followers, according to recent statistics.

He also said that the share of the newspaper in the advertising market amounts to 70 percent, equivalent to SR 950 million annually of the total Saudi advertising market in 2013, which reached SR2 billion.

“The situation has changed throughout the past two years in the Saudi market, which is witnessing an accelerated growth rate because of the abundant money available among consumers. This has contributed to increased competitiveness among local and international companies. The volume of advertisement markets has therefore doubled in recent times,” he said. He nonetheless confirmed that paper and visual media are both still dominating the advertising market.