The most revealing number in the latest MENA advertising data may not be the $8.185 billion spent on digital advertising in 2025. It is the fact that advertisers kept moving money into digital at a time when much of the region was navigating war, geopolitical uncertainty and economic volatility.
According to the latest IAB MENA Digital Adspend study, released in June, digital advertising expenditure across the Middle East and North Africa increased 17.8% year on year in 2025, making MENA the fastest-growing digital advertising region globally. The region also retained its place among the top five advertising markets in EMEA by spend.
The significance of the figure becomes clearer when viewed over several years. MENA’s digital ad market stood at $6.25 billion in 2023 and rose to $6.95 billion in 2024, before reaching $8.185 billion in 2025. That represents an increase of almost $2 billion in just two years. The study reported 13.6% growth in 2023 and 19.8% in 2024, suggesting that the expansion is not a one-year anomaly.
The emerging picture is therefore less about a temporary advertising boom and more about digital becoming the default infrastructure through which brands reach consumers.
From social-first to digital-everywhere
Social remains at the heart of that transformation. Advertising on social platforms grew 19.3% in 2025, while social video increased 23.6%. That reinforces MENA’s position as a particularly social-first advertising market.
But the more interesting development is what is happening beyond the traditional social platforms.
Connected TV advertising grew 31% in 2025, substantially faster than the overall digital market. Retail Media was even more striking, expanding by as much as 40.5%. For the first time, IAB MENA’s annual study also included dedicated estimates for CTV, Retail Media and programmatic digital out-of-home, reflecting how quickly the digital advertising ecosystem is broadening.
That matters because it suggests MENA’s digitalisation is no longer simply a story about consumers spending more time on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube.
It is becoming a story about where advertising itself is being built into the consumer journey.
Retail Media, for example, puts advertising closer to the point of purchase. CTV brings digital targeting and measurement into television-like viewing environments. Programmatic DOOH introduces data-driven buying into physical spaces. Together, these formats blur the old boundaries between advertising, commerce, entertainment and media.
The direction of travel was already visible in 2024 data. Search grew 24.7%, while the category containing Retail Media, affiliates, classified and unclassified spending grew 30.4%, with data specifically pointing to Retail Media as a driver.
Geopolitics has not stopped the digitalisation of advertising
This is where the 2025 figures become particularly interesting.
MENA’s advertising economy operates against a backdrop of extraordinary geopolitical disruption. The Gaza war continued to reverberate across the region, while conflicts and political instability elsewhere added uncertainty for businesses and consumers. Fighting in Gaza contributed to declines across several Gulf stock markets, illustrating how quickly geopolitical shocks can spill into regional economic sentiment.
Yet the annual advertising figures show no regional collapse in digital investment. Instead, digital advertising expanded at a double-digit rate.
That should not be interpreted as evidence that individual markets, sectors or brands were unaffected by the conflicts. Nor does the study establish a causal relationship between geopolitical conditions and advertising expenditure. But the aggregate result is nevertheless telling: geopolitical instability has not derailed the longer-term migration of advertising budgets towards digital channels.
In some respects, digital may be particularly suited to an uncertain environment.
Advertisers can move budgets between markets, audiences and formats more rapidly than they can with traditional media. Campaigns can be optimised in real time, spending can be tied more closely to measurable outcomes, and brands can respond to changes in consumer behaviour without having to commit to the same fixed inventory associated with traditional media.
The resilience of digital advertising may therefore be less about advertisers ignoring uncertainty and more about advertisers demanding greater flexibility from their media investments.
Egypt shows that the growth story is not confined to the Gulf
Another important signal is the geographical spread of the expansion.
Egypt recorded 23.1% year-on-year growth in digital advertising in 2025, the strongest growth among markets highlighted by the study.
That is significant because it points to a MENA digital advertising economy that is not being driven solely by the wealthy Gulf markets.
The Gulf remains critical to the region’s advertising ecosystem, but growth in markets such as Egypt indicates that digital advertising is becoming increasingly relevant across a broader consumer base.
The result is a market with two simultaneous characteristics: sophisticated, high-value advertising ecosystems in markets such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and rapidly expanding digital consumption and advertising opportunities across larger population markets.
The next battle is for measurable attention
The strongest signal from the data may ultimately be where the money is going.
Social video is growing faster than overall social advertising. CTV is growing faster than digital advertising as a whole. Retail Media is growing dramatically faster still.
These are not random pockets of growth. They all offer something advertisers increasingly want: more precise targeting, richer data and a clearer connection between advertising exposure and consumer behaviour.
The earlier phase of MENA’s digital advertising revolution was about moving audiences from television, print and outdoor media onto social and online platforms.
The next phase is more sophisticated.
It is about connecting advertising to commerce, content, connected screens, physical environments and first-party consumer data.
That helps explain why MENA’s digital advertising market can continue expanding even amid geopolitical turbulence. The underlying driver is not simply optimism among advertisers. It is the changing architecture of the region’s media economy.
At $8.185 billion, digital advertising is no longer a fast-growing segment sitting alongside traditional advertising in MENA.
It is increasingly becoming the centre of gravity of the advertising market itself.
