The same platform can be essential in one Gulf market and secondary in the next. These figures come from DataReportal's Digital 2026 reports for each country, published in November 2025. They measure advertising audience reach, which is the number of people a platform says its ads can reach, not monthly active users.
Ad reach by platform
| Platform | UAE | Saudi Arabia | Egypt |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9.70M (85.0%) | 17.7M (50.8%) | 51.6M (43.4%) | |
| YouTube | 8.37M (73.3%) | 27.5M (79.2%) | 49.3M (41.5%) |
| 8.05M (70.5%) | 18.2M (52.4%) | 21.7M (18.2%) | |
| TikTok (18+) | 12.5M | 38.6M | 48.8M |
| Snapchat | 5.13M (44.9%) | 25.3M (72.9%) | 20.6M (17.3%) |
| X | 2.85M (25.0%) | 15.0M (43.1%) | 4.64M (3.9%) |
| LinkedIn (members) | 10.0M | 12.0M | 15.0M |
Percentages are of the total population. TikTok reports adults aged 18 and over only, and its figure can exceed the resident adult population because of how platforms estimate audiences. LinkedIn reports registered members rather than ad reach.
What it means
UAE: broad reach almost everywhere
Facebook, YouTube and Instagram each reach more than 70% of the UAE's population, and TikTok reports more than 12 million adults. Because so many platforms reach so many people, the choice depends on who you are trying to reach. Instagram and TikTok carry most lifestyle, food and retail discovery. LinkedIn matters for B2B.
Saudi Arabia: Snapchat and YouTube first
Snapchat reaches about 73% of Saudi Arabia's population, compared with 45% in the UAE. YouTube reaches 79%, and X is far more relevant than in the UAE or Egypt at 43%. A Saudi plan that copies a UAE plan will usually under-invest in Snapchat and X.
Egypt: Facebook, YouTube and TikTok at scale
Egypt's numbers are large in absolute terms. Facebook, YouTube and TikTok each reach close to 50 million people. Instagram and Snapchat reach fewer than one in five Egyptians, so a plan built around Instagram alone will miss most of the market.
How we use this
Reach is a starting point, not a plan. We combine it with who your customers are, what they watch and what the content needs to do, then pick two or three channels to do well. Read more about our social media management and the market pages for the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
