Arabic television is counting on an explosion of Ramadan serials to restore losses from the global recession, but some concerned Muslims are scrambling to pull the faithful back to prayer during the holy month.
Around 60 serials hit the screens on more than 400 channels this month as producers have used bloated budgets and big names to lure advertisers during a fiercely competitive period for Arabic television dramas.
"Ramadan is the most attractive month for advertisers," television critic Adel Abbas in Cairo said, putting the ad budget - a good chunk of which is for fast-moving consumer goods - in Egypt at half a billion Egyptian pounds (€69.9 million) in Ramadan alone, 40 per cent of the annual budget.
According to regional experts, 30 seconds worth of advertising costs $2,300 this month when families gather around the television after the breaking of the dawn-to-dusk fast.
The financial crisis brought revenues from publicity down 26 per cent in the United Arab Emirates for the first half of this year, and down five per cent in Saudi Arabia, according to Abu Dhabi's The National.
"Given the fact that viewing rates in Ramadan are the highest this year, TV channels are at pains to generate the highest possible revenues from advertising to try to shore up their budgets dented by the global financial crisis," the Egyptian Mail wrote.
Channels such as the Saudi-owned MBC1 are counting on Ramadan to restore some of the losses incurred, experts said, while spending €49,000 per hour on productions.
Egyptian advertising magnate Tareq Nur even set up a TV channel that will air only during Ramadan.
But angry that the religious angle has been diluted by the lights, camera and action, some in the region have been eager to draw the faithful back to worship, bemoaning the commercialism that has overshadowed Ramadan's spiritual roots.
"It is a month of introspection, a month of mercy, patience and self-discipline," Arab News columnist Tariq al-Maeenahe wrote.
"Instead, what has been evident are the heavily advertised television serials... bound to take the viewers away from their activities of faith and keep them up all night."
One Cairo preacher warned programme makers to beware of God's wrath for their part in luring good Muslims away from their duties during the holy month.
"This frenetic marathon and overdose of TV shows turns this month with all its spirituality into a time for mundane entertainment," the preacher said, quoted by the Egyptian Mail.
"The makers of these shows incur the wrath of God for distracting Muslims' attention from the sublime value of the month of Ramadan, in order to make materialistic gains. Beware of falling into this trap."
A cartoon in last Tuesday's independent Egyptian daily Al-Shorouk poked fun at the amount of soaps this year with a man holding a television schedule in one hand, testing his wife: "Quickly! Tell me when (actor) Nur al-Sherif's serial is aired on Channel Two and when the repeats are on Dream 2?"
"Families have to spend at least 60 hours a day watching television if they want to catch all the serials, whose durations have been stretched by the number of commercial breaks," said critic Ashraf Bayumi.
MBC1 is for the 16th year in a row touting its blockbuster series Tash ma Tash, a satirical comedy targeting the conservative values of Saudi Arabian society.
In Egypt, two soaps are topping the favourite spots according to press reviews - Ana Qalbi Dalily (My Heart is My Proof), a biopic of late Egyptian Jewish singer Layla Murad, and Matkhafoosh (Don't bBe Scared) which tackles the Arab-Israeli conflict.