Gitnux/Report 2026

Mena Media Industry Statistics

With 1.5 billion social media users globally in 2025 and the internet reaching 86.3% of MENA households, the attention war is getting crowded, yet MENA still finds room to convert through dense local reach, from Egypt’s 54.0 million users to Saudi Arabia’s 31.3 million in January 2025. The page puts that momentum beside hard shifts like the 21% of global news consumers using messaging apps for news and MENA display ad CTR of 0.8% in 2024, showing exactly where broadcasters and publishers are winning engagement and where they are paying for it.
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May 14, 2026Updated
Mena Media Industry Statistics
Lukas BauerWritten by Lukas Bauer·Edited by Felix Zimmermann·Fact-checked by Maya Johansson
Published ·Updated
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With 1.5 billion people on social media worldwide in 2025, the MENA media industry is competing for attention at a scale few local teams are used to measuring. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s 31.3 million and Egypt’s 54.0 million social users each month in early 2025 point to huge audiences, yet the real pressure is shifting to formats and channels where messaging apps and short video keep pulling attention away.

Key Takeaways

  • 1.5 billion total social media users in 2025 globally, indicating MENA media platforms compete in a very large global attention market
  • UAE had 10.6 million social media users in January 2025, indicating dense social reach for media brands
  • Saudi Arabia had 31.3 million social media users in January 2025, supporting high engagement potential for broadcasters and publishers
  • Egypt had 54.0 million social media users in January 2025, creating large social audiences for Arabic-language content
  • MENA publishers saw an average 20% year-over-year increase in digital subscriptions between 2021 and 2022 in a WAN-IFRA audience and revenue benchmark dataset
  • In 2024, 21% of global news consumers said they use messaging apps for news, indicating channel shift relevant to MENA where WhatsApp and Telegram are prominent
  • In 2023, the average global news website reached 3.2 billion monthly visits (industry analytics cited by Reuters Institute), relevant to competitive measurement in MENA
  • In 2024, World Bank data show that MENA had 34.7% of adults with account ownership at a financial institution or mobile money (2021-2022 estimate), supporting subscription/paywall payments
  • Average click-through rate (CTR) for display ads in MENA was 0.8% in 2024 benchmarks, quantifying typical engagement levels for online news/media banners
  • The World Bank reports that broadband subscriptions per 100 people in MENA averaged 70.0 in 2022, enabling bandwidth-requiring streaming and video distribution
  • In 2022, MENA had an average of 99.0 mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people, supporting always-on access for digital media consumption
  • The UAE’s VAT rate is 5% (government published tax rate), affecting consumer spending on digital media subscriptions and purchases
  • Saudi Arabia’s VAT rate is 15% (government-published rate), impacting pricing and consumer demand for paid media and streaming
  • Global data center electricity price per kWh varied widely; in the GCC, electricity subsidy levels reduce effective cost—UAE industrial electricity tariffs were listed at AED 0.172/kWh for certain categories (effective tariff publication), affecting production and hosting costs

With booming internet and social reach across MENA, online and messaging channels are reshaping how news and subscriptions grow.

Related reading

01 · Category

Market Size1 stats

01
1.5 billion total social media users in 2025 globally, indicating MENA media platforms compete in a very large global attention markethttps://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2025-global-overview-report
Interpretation

Market Size Interpretation

With 1.5 billion total social media users worldwide by 2025, the Market Size for Mena media platforms is anchored in an enormous global attention market that can support significant audience growth and competition.

02 · Category

User Adoption6 stats

01
UAE had 10.6 million social media users in January 2025, indicating dense social reach for media brandshttps://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2025-united-arab-emirates
02
Saudi Arabia had 31.3 million social media users in January 2025, supporting high engagement potential for broadcasters and publishershttps://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2025-saudi-arabia
03
Egypt had 54.0 million social media users in January 2025, creating large social audiences for Arabic-language contenthttps://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2025-egypt
04
TikTok ranked among the top social platforms by usage in MENA in 2023, indicating accelerated short-form video consumptionhttps://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-emea/insights/consumer-insights/mena-digital-consumer-report/
05
Telegram had 51.8 million monthly active users in the Middle East & Africa in 2023 (DataReportal / Meta ecosystem summary), supporting substantial audience for Telegram-based media distributionhttps://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-global-overview-report
06
86.3% of the MENA region’s population in 2023 used the internet (ITU), indicating strong baseline reach for online news and streaminghttps://www.itu.int/itu-d/reports/statistics/
Interpretation

User Adoption Interpretation

With 86.3% internet usage across MENA in 2023 and tens of millions of social media users per country, including Egypt’s 54.0 million and Saudi Arabia’s 31.3 million in January 2025, user adoption is clearly strong and should help media brands scale online reach quickly.

03 · Category

Revenue Metrics1 stats

01
MENA publishers saw an average 20% year-over-year increase in digital subscriptions between 2021 and 2022 in a WAN-IFRA audience and revenue benchmark datasethttps://wan-ifra.org/reports/digital-news-report-2023/
Interpretation

Revenue Metrics Interpretation

Revenue Metrics for MENA show a strong monetization trend, with publishers averaging a 20% year-over-year rise in digital subscriptions from 2021 to 2022 according to the WAN-IFRA audience and revenue benchmark dataset.

More related reading

05 · Category

Performance Metrics5 stats

01
Average click-through rate (CTR) for display ads in MENA was 0.8% in 2024 benchmarks, quantifying typical engagement levels for online news/media bannershttps://www.advertisingbureau.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/MENA-Digital-Display-Benchmark-2024.pdf
02
The World Bank reports that broadband subscriptions per 100 people in MENA averaged 70.0 in 2022, enabling bandwidth-requiring streaming and video distributionhttps://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.BBND.P2
03
In 2022, MENA had an average of 99.0 mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people, supporting always-on access for digital media consumptionhttps://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.CEL.SETS.P2
04
Average email click rate for the Media category was 2.2% (Mailchimp benchmark report, region-agnostic), informing expectations for audience engagement through email distributionhttps://mailchimp.com/resources/email-marketing-benchmarks/
05
MENA’s average fixed broadband speeds reached 118.5 Mbps in 2024 (Ookla Speedtest Global Index, country-metric summary), supporting high-quality streaming and OTT deliveryhttps://www.speedtest.net/global-index
Interpretation

Performance Metrics Interpretation

MENA’s performance metrics point to strong digital readiness and engagement, with display ad CTR averaging 0.8% alongside 70.0 broadband subscriptions per 100 people and 118.5 Mbps fixed speeds in 2024, enabling the bandwidth needed for modern online news and media delivery.

06 · Category

Cost Analysis5 stats

01
The UAE’s VAT rate is 5% (government published tax rate), affecting consumer spending on digital media subscriptions and purchaseshttps://tax.gov.ae/en/vat/vat-rate/
02
Saudi Arabia’s VAT rate is 15% (government-published rate), impacting pricing and consumer demand for paid media and streaminghttps://zatca.gov.sa/en/Pages/VAT.aspx
03
Global data center electricity price per kWh varied widely; in the GCC, electricity subsidy levels reduce effective cost—UAE industrial electricity tariffs were listed at AED 0.172/kWh for certain categories (effective tariff publication), affecting production and hosting costshttps://www.dewa.gov.ae/en/about-us/regulated-tariffs-electricity
04
In 2024, X reported revenue with significant content and infrastructure expenses; X’s cost of revenue was $2.5 billion in 2023 (company filing), informing operational cost pressures for social media publishershttps://www.annualreports.com/Company/x-holdings-inc
05
In 2023, MENA electricity generation costs affected cloud/hyperscale hosting; the IEA tracked GCC natural gas prices that influence data center energy costs (IEA dataset), lowering or raising hosting costs regionallyhttps://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-product/natural-gas-prices
Interpretation

Cost Analysis Interpretation

For MENA media costs, VAT differences are a major driver with Saudi Arabia charging 15% versus the UAE’s 5%, while hosting expense volatility is amplified by electricity economics such as the UAE’s listed AED 0.172 per kWh effective industrial tariff and the way regional natural gas prices shift cloud and hyperscale energy costs.
Reference

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APA
Lukas Bauer. (2026, February 13). Mena Media Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/mena-media-industry-statistics
MLA
Lukas Bauer. "Mena Media Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/mena-media-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Lukas Bauer. 2026. "Mena Media Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/mena-media-industry-statistics.

Sources & references

24 datasets cited across this report

datareportal.comthinkwithgoogle.comwan-ifra.orgreutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.ukadvertisingbureau.orgdata.worldbank.orgtax.gov.aezatca.gov.sadewa.gov.aeannualreports.comiea.orgitu.intericsson.combrightlocal.commailchimp.comspeedtest.net

+8 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)