GCC Social Media Statistics 2026: Users and Reach by Country

Gulf shoppers live on their phones, and most of their buying starts on social media.

In Saudi Arabia and the UAE, social media identities outnumber residents. TikTok reaches effectively every adult online. Snapchat reaches almost three in four Saudis.

The catch? Each country uses different apps. Here are the 2026 numbers for all six GCC markets, each with its source and date, plus what they mean for where you spend.

How many people use social media in the GCC?

Almost everyone in the big two markets, and most people in the smaller four. DataReportal counts social media "identities", which are accounts rather than unique people. That's why Saudi Arabia and the UAE land above 100%.

Internet use is essentially universal too. DataReportal puts every GCC country at its 99% cap except Oman, at 95.3%.

So the question isn't whether your customers are on social media. It's which app they open first. Use the comparison tool to see the leading platform in each country:

Saudi Arabia social media statistics

Saudi Arabia is the Gulf's biggest social audience and one of the strongest Snapchat markets in the world. YouTube has the widest reach, and Snapchat is close behind.

As a share of residents, YouTube reaches 79.2% and Snapchat 72.9%. Instagram and X follow at 52.4% and 43.1%.

X still matters far more here than elsewhere in the Gulf. Saudis use it for news, trending hashtags and public complaints to brands, so watch your mentions.

What do Saudis say they actually use?

A government survey tells a slightly different story. CST's Saudi Internet Report asks internet users which apps they use, and WhatsApp comes out on top:

The two sources disagree most on Facebook. Here's how they compare:

Why the gap? Ad reach counts every account an advertiser can target, including expats who keep Facebook for family back home. The survey captures what people open day to day.

So size your Saudi campaigns with DataReportal, and build your creative around CST's top four. For the head-to-head on the two biggest paid channels, see Snapchat vs TikTok ads in Saudi Arabia.

UAE social media statistics

The UAE looks more like a global market. About 88% of residents are expats, so Facebook and Instagram lead, and LinkedIn is unusually large.

Facebook reaches 85% of residents and Instagram 70.5%. Snapchat reaches 44.9%, mostly younger Emiratis and Arab expats.

Instagram is the one to watch. It added about 450,000 reachable users in a year, the biggest gain of any consumer social app in the UAE. Dubai's lifestyle, beauty and luxury creators are Instagram-first, which is why Instagram marketing in Dubai gets its own guide.

Kuwait social media statistics

Kuwait is an Instagram market. Home businesses sell straight from Instagram profiles and close orders on WhatsApp.

Instagram grew 13.2% in a year and reaches 59.4% of residents. Snapchat sits level with Facebook, at about 48%, while X shrank 10.1%. More on the market itself is in our Kuwait ecommerce guide.

Qatar social media statistics

Qatar leans on Facebook and YouTube, thanks to its large South Asian workforce. Facebook reaches 76.6% of residents and YouTube 73.8%.

Snapchat is the growth story. It's still at 39.5% of residents, but it grew 19.6% in a year, the fastest growth of any platform in our data.

Bahrain and Oman social media statistics

The two smallest markets have the most room to grow. DataReportal counts 1.31 million social media identities in Bahrain, or 79.4% of residents. Oman has 3.44 million, at 62.1%.

Their buyers are Arabic-first and close to Saudi habits, so most sellers start with Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok there.

Oman's social sellers are going legit fast. Its ecommerce licence count roughly doubled between mid-2025 and August 2026, driven mainly by Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp sellers (Oman Observer). See the Oman ecommerce guide for how licensing works.

Platform reach compared across the GCC

Put the four big markets side by side and the split is obvious. Saudi Arabia is Snapchat country, while the UAE and Qatar belong to Meta.

Year on year, the trend is clear. Instagram and Snapchat are gaining, while X is slipping almost everywhere:

Should you trust StatCounter's referral data instead? Use it for a different job. It shows Facebook sending 63.6% of Saudi social clicks to websites in September 2026.

The UAE figure is 78.4%. That mostly reflects paid Meta ads and in-app browsers, and it misses Snapchat and TikTok traffic. Tag every link with UTMs.

How many people in the GCC use WhatsApp?

Nearly everyone online. WhatsApp tops CST's Saudi survey, ahead of every social app. Men edge women, at 94.4% against 90.4%.

WhatsApp isn't an ad platform, so it doesn't appear in DataReportal's reach tables. But it's where Gulf sales get closed:

• Order confirmation. Confirming cash-on-delivery orders on WhatsApp cuts refused deliveries.
• Customer service. Shoppers expect to message a brand before and after buying.
• Click-to-WhatsApp ads. Meta ads that open a chat get a free messaging window of up to 7 days.

Messages are cheap for service and pricier for marketing. Since October 2026, a marketing template costs USD 0.0576 in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE (Meta). Work out your monthly bill in our WhatsApp marketing guide.

How much time do Gulf users spend online?

A lot. In Saudi Arabia, 61.3% of internet users are online for seven hours or more a day (CST). Saudis also use about 53 GB of mobile data a month, roughly three times the global average.

Timing matters as much as volume. Saudi daily use peaks between 9pm and 11pm, and Friday is the busiest day (CST).

Ramadan pushes everything later. Visa's Ramadan 2024 data shows how much card spending moves to late at night:

So schedule posts, ads and WhatsApp campaigns for the evening, and shift them past iftar during Ramadan. Our Ramadan marketing guide has the full calendar.

Who uses social media in the GCC?

Young people, and in the UAE, mostly men. The two big markets have very different audiences:

• Saudi Arabia is young. About 71% of Saudi nationals are under 35 (GASTAT). Their median age is just 23.5.
• Saudi women lean Snapchat. In CST's survey, 88.2% of women use Snapchat against 80.2% of men. YouTube skews the other way.
• The UAE skews male. About 64% of residents are male, because of the migrant workforce (DataReportal).
• UAE ad audiences follow. Facebook and YouTube audiences run about 66–74% male. Snapchat and Instagram have the most female-heavy audiences.
• UAE buyers are older. The median age is 31.6, and more than half of residents are aged 25–44.

In short, Saudi creative should speak to under-35s in Arabic. UAE creative usually starts in English, with Arabic variants for Emiratis.

How big is social commerce in the GCC?

Big, and mostly off-platform. TikTok Shop isn't live anywhere in the GCC as of October 2026. Instead, social apps send buyers to a store, a marketplace listing or a WhatsApp chat.

The smaller markets show how much selling happens this way.

Ken Research puts 2025 social commerce at about USD 1.0 billion in Kuwait. Its Bahrain figure is USD 1.25 billion. Both use a broad scope, so don't compare them directly with ecommerce market sizes.

Want to know when TikTok's checkout arrives? We track it in Is TikTok Shop available in Saudi Arabia or the UAE?

How big is the GCC influencer market?

Kolsquare puts the GCC influencer market at USD 315.5 million in 2025. It's forecast to reach USD 771.6 million by 2032 (PS Market Research).

Licensing has thinned the field.

Kolsquare counted 60,824 active Saudi creators in 2022. By February 2026, only 39,377 were left. That 35% drop followed the Mawthooq licence.

For brands, that's good news. The creators left are licensed and easier to vet.

Check the Saudi rules in our Mawthooq licence guide. In the UAE, an Advertiser Permit has been mandatory since 1 February 2026.

How much do social ads cost in the GCC?

Gulf ad prices aren't cheap, but they're in line with what the audience spends. Here's Lebesgue's ecommerce benchmark for Meta (Facebook and Instagram) CPM, the cost per 1,000 impressions:

Superads' all-industry data runs higher for the UAE, at about USD 15.8 on average. The two samples differ, so budget at USD 8–16 for Meta.

TikTok is the cheap reach channel in Saudi Arabia. One Saudi agency's data for five brands shows a CPM of about SAR 2.37 (roughly USD 0.63). For Snapchat, global median CPMs start at USD 5.84 for awareness campaigns (BIMO Group).

Seasonal CPM: November is the expensive month

Prices swing with the shopping calendar. In Superads' UAE data, Facebook CPM peaked in November 2025, during White Friday:

Clicks follow the same curve. UAE Facebook CPC peaked at USD 1.66 that November. Its low was USD 0.50, in May.

Worked example: the same budget in May and November

Say you spend USD 5,000 on UAE Facebook ads in a month:

The same money buys about 2.6 times more impressions in May. So build your audience and test creative in the quiet months, then spend on retargeting in November. Our paid ads guide covers budgets platform by platform.

Notes for Saudi-first sellers

• Make Snapchat and TikTok your core paid channels, and add Instagram for fashion and beauty.
• Use Saudi-dialect Arabic in vertical video. Plan 4–6 new creatives a month per platform.
• Keep an eye on X for complaints and trends, even if you don't advertise there.
• Book only Mawthooq-licensed creators, through a Saudi agency if they're foreign.

Notes for UAE-first sellers

• Start with Meta: Instagram Reels and Facebook placements, then add TikTok.
• Lead in English and add Arabic variants. Targeted Hindi, Urdu or Russian creative can reach big expat groups.
• Use Snapchat only when you're targeting young Emiratis or Arab expats.
• Check every creator's UAE Advertiser Permit before you pay.

Notes for sellers in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman

• Kuwait: Instagram first, with WhatsApp to close orders. Snapchat and Facebook are level behind it.
• Qatar: Facebook and YouTube reach the most people, but Snapchat is growing fastest.
• Bahrain and Oman: smaller, less crowded feeds. Arabic Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok creative is the usual start.
• Ad budgets go further here. Kuwait has the lowest Meta ecommerce CPM in our data, at about USD 8.