Digital 2027 Saudi Arabia: 99% online as TikTok, LinkedIn and Threads ad audiences grow fastest.

DataReportal has published its Digital 2027 report for Saudi Arabia, part of its Global Digital Reports series, supported by Meltwater and We Are Social. It counts 35.0m internet users, or 99% of the population, and shows TikTok, LinkedIn and Threads ad audiences growing fastest over the past year, while X's shrank.

As with the rest of the series, most platform figures are advertising reach numbers from each company's own ad tools. They are not monthly active users, and some exceed the Kingdom's adult population, which DataReportal reports as published and flags as anomalies.

Key findings

• Saudi Arabia had 35.3m people in October 2026, up 1.7% in a year, with a median age of 29.7. Men made up 60.3% of the population and 84.8% lived in towns and cities.
• There were 35.0m internet users at the end of 2026, a penetration rate of 99%, which is DataReportal's cap.
• Cellular mobile connections reached 53.8m, equal to 152% of the population, up 7.5% in a year.
• Ookla's median mobile download speed was 224.54 Mbps, up 15.6% in the twelve months to August 2026, and the median fixed speed 174.04 Mbps, up 37.2%.
• Social media user identities numbered 44.8m, equal to 127% of the population and up 6.2m (16.0%) on late 2025. DataReportal stresses these may not be unique individuals.
• In GWI's survey of internet users aged 16 and over, WhatsApp was the most used platform in the past month (86.7%), followed by YouTube (83.7%), TikTok (81.9%), Instagram (75.7%), Snapchat (74.4%) and X (65.4%).

Ad reach by platform, late 2026, according to each company's ad tools:

• TikTok: 44.8m users aged 18 and over, up 16.0% in a year and 2.9% between July and October. That equals 175.4% of adults, a figure DataReportal publishes as reported.
• YouTube: 27.6m, up just 0.4% in a year but 4.5% between July and October.
• Snapchat: 26.6m, up 5.2% in a year; equal to 92.0% of adults by Snap's figures.
• Instagram: 18.3m, up 0.3% in a year but down 6.2% between July and October.
• Facebook: 17.6m, down 0.3% in a year and 6.4% between July and October.
• LinkedIn: 15.0m registered members, up 25.0% in a year. LinkedIn counts members, not active users.
• X: 13.5m, down 10.2% in a year; DataReportal warns X's figures fluctuate and show unusual trends.
• Pinterest: 7.08m, up 5.0% between July and October, with an audience 67.2% female.
• Threads: 2.20m, up 41.9% in a year. Reddit: 1.89m, up 11.0% in a year.

Most ad audiences skew male. Women make up 22.7% of Facebook's adult ad audience, 25.8% of LinkedIn's and 36.8% of YouTube's, against 43.6% on Snapchat and 40.3% on TikTok.

How the research was done

The report combines sources rather than running a single survey. Population data comes from the United Nations, mobile connections from GSMA Intelligence and connection speeds from Ookla. Internet users are estimated by Manochi, which carries out the analysis for DataReportal, from the ITU, GSMA Intelligence, national regulators and statistics offices, and the planning tools of large internet companies. Social media figures are Manochi's analysis of platforms' advertising resources, and the platform usage shares come from GWI's survey for Q2 2026. DataReportal warns that source changes and revisions mean the numbers may not be comparable with earlier reports, and advises using the change figures it publishes rather than recalculating growth from old editions.

What it means for marketers

Our read: treat the reach numbers as direction, not headcount. DataReportal says ad reach is not the same as active users, and Meta notes its estimates can count people with several accounts and temporary visitors. A TikTok adult ad audience bigger than the adult population makes the same point, so planners should not add platform reaches together or read them as unique users.

The direction is still useful. TikTok added 6.16m to its ad audience in a year, LinkedIn 3m and Threads 650,000, while X lost 1.53m and Facebook, Instagram and Threads all fell in the latest quarter, which DataReportal notes can reflect platform corrections rather than lost users. Our read: Snapchat is one of the clearest differences from the UAE report. Its Saudi ad reach equals 75.4% of the population, against 43.7% in the UAE (5.09m of 11.6m), so a Gulf-wide plan copied from the UAE is likely to under-weight it in the Kingdom. The audience skew also matters: brands targeting women will find a more balanced audience on Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram than on Facebook or LinkedIn, and a majority-female one on Pinterest (67.2%).

About this report

Published by DataReportal (Kepios), supported by Meltwater and We Are Social, November 2026. Free. Get the full report from DataReportal

Sources

• DataReportal, "Digital 2027: Saudi Arabia" (5 November 2026)
• DataReportal, "Digital 2027: The United Arab Emirates" (4 November 2026)