Analytics10 Aug 2026 · 7 min read · explainer

GCC Digital Ad Spend Statistics 2026

Verified GCC and MENA digital ad spend statistics for 2026, with country estimates, measured growth, channel shares, OOH, and platform reach.

This reference was compiled from the supplied, pre-verified research dataset on 10 August 2026. IAB MENA measured digital spend, Ipsos monitored media, commercial forecasters, audited company accounts, and platform reach tools describe different universes. Every figure carries its method, period, geography, and source.

Key statistics

Research and Markets estimated Saudi Arabia's 2025 digital ad market at US$4.01 billion, 1.75 times its UAE estimate of US$2.29 billion. Sources: Research and Markets, Saudi Arabia databook and UAE release via Yahoo Finance, released January and February 2026; vendor estimates with unpublished methodology.
The same forecaster projects Saudi digital ad spend at US$7.98 billion and UAE spend at US$4.30 billion in 2029, a ratio of 1.86x. Sources: Research and Markets, Saudi Arabia and UAE release; 2029 forecasts, not actuals.
IAB MENA measured MENA digital ad spend at US$8.185 billion in 2025, up 17.8% year on year. Source: IAB MENA, MENA Digital Adspend 2025, published 8 June 2026; regional actual based on its econometric model and member validation.
Television took 51.5% of gross monitored GCC ad spend from December 2024 to November 2025, outdoor roughly one quarter, and monitored digital 14.4%. Source: Ipsos data reported by Communicate Online, 2 January 2026; monitoring structurally undercounts walled-garden digital.
Ipsos attributed US$2.21 billion of gross monitored GCC advertising to out-of-home in the twelve months to November 2025. Source: Ipsos data reported by Communicate Online, 2 January 2026.
18.3% of the entire year's monitored GCC television budget was concentrated in March 2025, during Ramadan, when TV took nearly two-thirds of all monitored advertising expenditure. Source: Ipsos data reported by Communicate Online, 2 January 2026.
Saudi Arabia accounted for 58% of MENA digital ad spend growth in 2022. Source: IAB MENA 2022 estimates, published June 2023, based on input from 23 member companies in constant US dollars.
Egypt was MENA's fastest-growing digital advertising market in 2025 at 23.1%, ahead of the regional 17.8% rate. Source: IAB MENA, MENA Digital Adspend 2025, published 8 June 2026.
Google search share exceeded 95% in all seven measured markets in July 2026, ranging from 95.21% in Oman to 97.21% in Bahrain. Source: Statcounter GlobalStats country series, July 2026; see the Sources list for the seven country pages.
Al Arabia grew audited FY2025 revenue 19% to SAR 1.952 billion, and 90% of its Saudi advertising faces were digital. Source: Arabian Contracting Services Co., Annual Report 2025, audited.
X advertising reach fell year on year in all seven measured markets, by 4.8% in Oman to 16.8% in Bahrain, while Reddit grew by 117% in Saudi Arabia to 198% in Qatar. Source: platform advertising resources via DataReportal's Digital 2026 country reports, comparison from end 2024 to October 2025.
LinkedIn reported UAE reach equal to 87.6% of population, while X reached 43.1% and Snapchat 72.9% in Saudi Arabia in late 2025. Source: platform advertising resources via DataReportal's Digital 2026 reports, dated October 2025; reach is self-reported ad-tool data, not unique active users.

Market size and channel growth

Four headline totals cover four different markets: IAB MENA reported US$8.185 billion of MENA digital spend in 2025; Research and Markets estimated US$10.1 billion for a Middle East definition including Israel and Turkey; Ipsos monitored US$8.6 billion gross across all GCC media; and Ipsos estimated US$5.07 billion of real all-media MENA spend in 2021. Sources: IAB MENA, Research and Markets, Communicate Online reporting Ipsos, and Ipsos MENA 2021; the totals are not comparable.
Research and Markets estimated Saudi digital ad spend at US$4.01 billion in 2025 and forecasts US$4.68 billion in 2026, up 16.8%, and US$7.98 billion in 2029. Source: Research and Markets, Saudi Arabia Digital Ad Spend; vendor estimate and forecasts.
Research and Markets estimated UAE digital ad spend at US$2.29 billion in 2025 and forecasts US$2.64 billion in 2026, up 15.2%, and US$4.30 billion in 2029. Source: Research and Markets UAE release via Yahoo Finance; vendor estimate and forecasts.
Research and Markets estimated Egypt digital ad spend at US$1.63 billion in 2025 and forecasts US$1.84 billion in 2026 and US$2.84 billion in 2029. Source: Research and Markets, Egypt Digital Ad Spend; vendor estimate and forecasts.
IAB MENA measured 2025 growth of up to 40.5% for retail media, 31% for connected TV, 23.6% for social video, and 19.3% for social advertising. Source: IAB MENA, MENA Digital Adspend 2025, published 8 June 2026; “up to 40.5%” is a ceiling, not a precise retail-media rate.
IAB MENA's published digital series rose from US$5.5 billion in 2022 to US$6.25 billion in 2023, US$6.95 billion in 2024, and US$8.185 billion in 2025. Sources: IAB MENA 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Outdoor, search, and platform audiences

Al Arabia's FY2025 revenue included SAR 1.780 billion from outdoor advertising, while its inventory reached 10,934 billboards and 77,840 advertising faces at year end. Source: Arabian Contracting Services Co., Annual Report 2025, audited.
Saudi Arabia had 34.4 million internet users and 38.6 million social media identities in October 2025, compared with 11.3 million internet users and 12.5 million social media identities in the UAE. Sources: DataReportal, Digital 2026: Saudi Arabia and Digital 2026: United Arab Emirates, data dated October 2025.
Facebook generated 59.06% of measured Saudi social referral traffic in July 2026, followed by YouTube at 18.06% and X at 14.51%. Source: Statcounter GlobalStats, Social Media Stats Saudi Arabia, July 2026; referral traffic is not platform usage.
One vendor panel reported UAE Meta CPM at US$11.26 in July 2026, with a twelve-month range from US$8.92 to US$23.52 and a stated average of US$15.8. Source: Superads UAE Facebook CPM panel, July 2025 to July 2026; no UAE-specific account count, industry mix, or confidence interval is disclosed.

Data gaps and conflicts

No free source publishes current country-level digital spend for Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, or Oman, or dollar channel splits, regional programmatic share, or defensible cross-country CPM, CPC, and CPA benchmarks. Monitored gross spend is not net actual spend, vendor estimates are not audited actuals, and IAB MENA does not publish its country table openly. The 14.4% monitored digital share should not be used as digital's actual market share because monitoring misses much walled-garden inventory.

Cite this page

Shabang (2026), GCC Digital Ad Spend Statistics 2026, Shabang, last updated 10 August 2026, https://shabang.ae/guides/analytics/gcc-digital-ad-spend-statistics/. Credit the original publisher named beside any figure and Shabang as the compilation.

Sources

IAB MENA, MENA Digital Adspend 2025, 8 June 2026.
Research and Markets, Saudi Arabia Digital Ad Spend, January 2026.
Research and Markets, UAE Digital Ad Spend release, 10 February 2026.
Research and Markets, Egypt Digital Ad Spend, January 2026.
Ipsos monitored GCC spend via Communicate Online, 2 January 2026.
Ipsos, MENA 2021 Ad Spend, 28 June 2022.
Arabian Contracting Services Co., Annual Report 2025.
DataReportal, Digital 2026: Saudi Arabia, 8 November 2025.
DataReportal, Digital 2026: United Arab Emirates, 5 November 2025.
Statcounter GlobalStats, search share in Oman, July 2026, with equivalent country pages for Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Egypt.
Superads, UAE Facebook CPM panel, July 2026.