Saudi Arabia's Digital Advertising Market in 2026: A Practical Guide

Saudi Arabia has 34.4 million internet users, 99.0% of its population, and 38.6 million social media user identities, according to DataReportal's Digital 2026 report based on October 2025 data ¹. It is the largest digital audience in the Gulf by a wide margin, and one of the youngest: 71% of the population is under 35 ².

For brands across EMEA, the Kingdom is no longer a market to handle with a translated version of a UAE campaign. Its platform mix, its media economy and its creative expectations are distinct. This guide sets out what the data says and how to plan for it.

Vision 2030 and the growth of the media economy

Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 programme has put sectors such as media and tourism at the centre of national growth plans ²³, and the numbers reflect it. The General Authority of Media Regulation (GMedia) projects that the media sector's contribution to GDP will rise from SAR16 billion (US$4.3 billion) in 2024 to SAR47 billion (US$12.5 billion) by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of about 20% ². At a February 2026 report launch with Oxford Business Group, Minister of Media Salman Al-Dossary described media and the creative industries as "gateways to a thriving creative economy" ².

Tourism shows the same momentum. Saudi Arabia passed its original target of 100 million annual visitors six years early, closed 2025 with 123 million visitors, and has set a new target of 150 million by 2030 ³. For advertisers, events such as Riyadh Season, Saudi National Day and major sporting fixtures have become reliable peaks in the media calendar ³.

How Saudis use social and video

DataReportal's late-2025 advertising reach figures show a market where every major platform is large, but the balance differs from the rest of the Gulf ¹:

Platform	Ad reach	Share of population	Year-on-year change
TikTok (18+)	38.6m	154.3% of adults*	+17.7%
YouTube	27.5m	79.2%	+1.1%
Snapchat	25.3m	72.9%	+4.1%
Instagram	18.2m	52.4%	+13.8%
Facebook	17.7m	50.8%	+17.3%
X	15.0m	43.1%	-6.8%
LinkedIn (members)	12.0m	34.6%	+9.1%

*DataReportal republishes platform figures as reported, and values above 100% indicate that ad reach does not equal unique people ¹.

What this means in practice:

• TikTok has the largest reported reach and added 2.12 million in the three months to October 2025 alone ¹. It is now a default channel for consumer brands.
• Snapchat reaches almost three in four people, a far higher share than in the UAE. Dentsu MENA research with Lumen in 2024 found that Snapchat ads that showed brand elements early achieved significantly higher recall, with one Heinz ad averaging 17.9 seconds of viewing ⁴.
• YouTube remains the broadest long-form video platform, reaching nearly 80% of the population ¹.
• X is declining in reported reach but still reaches 15.0 million people, which keeps it relevant for news, sport and public conversation in a way it no longer is in many European markets ¹.

Ad spend: digital dominates and keeps growing

Figures compiled for GMedia and Oxford Business Group's sector report put Saudi advertising spend at SAR9.4 billion (US$2.5 billion) in 2025, up 10.5% year on year, with search advertising alone worth SAR3.8 billion (US$1 billion) according to Statista ². The same report expects digital channels to take 91% of total ad spend by 2030 ².

Regionally, IAB MENA's 2025 Digital Adspend study valued MENA digital advertising at US$8.185 billion in 2025, up 17.8%, with social video growing 23.6%, connected TV 31% and retail media by up to 40.5% ⁵. An earlier study for IAB MENA by Altman Solon found that social media receives the largest share of digital ad budgets in GCC markets, and that sellers and agencies expected growth in social video, CTV, retail media and influencer marketing ⁶.

Short-form video is a particular bright spot: the GMedia report projects short-form video ad spend in the Kingdom will reach SAR477.1 million (US$127 million) by 2028 ².

E-commerce and the creator economy

Online retail is turning more of this media spend into measurable sales. Mindshare KSA, citing Statista Market Insights, noted in 2025 that Saudi e-commerce is projected to reach US$24.29 billion by 2029 ⁷. Social commerce is projected to reach SAR19.1 billion (US$5.1 billion) by 2029 ².

Creators sit at the centre of this shift. The GMedia report cites data from Admitad and Stllr Network showing the Saudi creator economy grew 32% year on year in the first quarter of 2025 ². Brands working with creators should treat compliance as part of the brief. GMedia is the authority that develops and organises the Saudi media sector ². Confirm with the regulator what licence, registration and ad-disclosure rules apply to each creator before a campaign goes live, and write them into creator contracts.

Arabic-first creative is a performance requirement

The most common mistake international brands make in Saudi Arabia is treating creative as a localisation task. Practitioners writing in Campaign Middle East in 2026 describe Saudi audiences as responding to Arabic-first storytelling tuned to Ramadan, National Day, Riyadh Season and regional dialects, with AI now used to generate and test dozens of culturally tuned variants against conversion data ³. Mindshare KSA's outlook for 2025 made the same point: "A robust focus on Arabic-language content will be essential" ⁷.

Attention research supports this. The dentsu MENA study "Unlocking the Currency of Attention KSA", run with Lumen Research, Teads and Snapchat across five platforms tested in Arabic with 750 adults, found that ⁸:

1. Viewability rates in MENA are about 5% below global norms.
2. On one platform, ads were in view for 15.1 seconds on average but actually looked at for only 5.3 seconds.
3. Attention metrics had 1.4 times the explanatory power for brand recall compared with viewability.
4. Ads that introduce the brand early build recall more effectively, and attention is highest before the skip option appears.

The creative implication is clear: open in Arabic, show the brand in the first seconds, and build for sound-on vertical video.

Key takeaways

• Saudi Arabia has 34.4 million internet users and 99.0% penetration, with TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat each reaching more than 25 million people ¹.
• Snapchat and X play a much larger role than in the UAE or Europe ¹.
• Saudi ad spend reached an estimated SAR9.4 billion in 2025, and digital is expected to take 91% of spend by 2030 ².
• Vision 2030 is driving growth in media, tourism and events, which shape the advertising calendar ²³.
• Arabic-first creative with early branding outperforms translated assets on attention and recall ⁴⁸.

What this means for your brand

Plan Saudi Arabia as its own market with its own platform mix, putting TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube at the core and using X for news and sport moments. Brief Arabic creative from the start, written by native Saudi writers, and measure attention and recall rather than viewability alone. Build your media calendar around Ramadan, National Day and Riyadh Season. Finally, check creator licensing and disclosure rules with the regulator before every campaign, as the framework is evolving alongside the market.

Sources

1. Digital 2026: Saudi Arabia - DataReportal, November 2025
2. Saudi's GMedia, Oxford Business Group report reveals pulse of KSA media sector - Campaign Middle East, February 2026
3. The Kingdom's new marketing stack - Campaign Middle East, July 2026
4. Does Snap hold attention, boost recall, lift brand choice in Saudi Arabia? - Campaign Middle East, December 2024
5. 2025 MENA Digital Adspend - IAB MENA, June 2026
6. State of Digital Advertising in MENA Study - Altman Solon and IAB MENA, April 2025
7. Media and marketing strategies for Saudi Arabia in 2025 - Campaign Middle East, February 2025
8. Arabic attention research challenges conventional wisdom on ad measurement - Campaign Middle East, October 2024

Figures and product details are as reported by the sources listed, at the time of writing. Platforms change quickly, so check the latest documentation before acting on any single number.