Dubai Press Club and Deloitte: MENA media's AI spending to reach $520m.
A Dubai Press Club and Deloitte report puts MENA media companies' AI spending at $520m in 2026, with Saudi Arabia the largest market at 26%.
By Dubai Press Club and Deloitte · Sep 16, 2026
Dubai Press Club has published Arab Media in the Age of AI, a report developed with Deloitte and launched at the Arab Media Summit in Dubai on 16 September. It estimates that media companies in the Middle East and North Africa will spend $520m on AI software and services in 2026, twice the $260m they spent in 2024.
Saudi Arabia is the biggest market, with 26% of this year's spending, or about $137.4m, ahead of the UAE at 18% and Egypt at 8%. The report covers video, audio, gaming, and strategic communications and PR in ten markets, five of them Gulf states, and finds that most Saudi and Emirati media organisations already use AI in at least one part of their work.
$520m
estimated AI spending by MENA media companies in 2026, up from $260m in 2024
26%
Saudi Arabia's share of that spending, about $137.4m, the largest in the region
70%
of Saudi media organisations use AI in at least one workflow; the UAE leads at 75%
62%
of 2026 spending goes on software rather than services
Key findings
- Spending is growing fast everywhere. Media companies worldwide are expected to spend $15.9bn on AI in 2026, up from $8.2bn in 2024, growth of roughly 40% a year. MENA accounts for 3% of that total, but the report expects the region's compound annual growth rate to run 3% above the global average.
- Three markets hold about half of the region's spending. Saudi Arabia ($137.4m), the UAE ($94.7m) and Qatar ($36.2m) make up roughly half of the 2026 total. Saudi spending has doubled from $68.6m in 2024. Egypt, at $41.8m, spends more than Qatar; Morocco ($22.1m) and Lebanon ($12m) follow.
- Distribution and creation take most of the software budget. Software is 62% of spending and services 38%, with professional services the largest part of the services bill. Within software, content distribution takes 32%, content creation 26%, audience data analytics 20% and workflow automation 14%.
- Gulf adoption is already high. In 2026, 75% of media organisations in the UAE, 70% in Saudi Arabia and 65% in Qatar use AI in at least one operational workflow, against 40% in Egypt and 35% in Lebanon. The report expects the UAE and Saudi Arabia to pass 95% by 2030.
- Each market leans a different way. Saudi Arabia and Qatar lead in translation, newsroom and workflow uses. The UAE has the widest spread of uses and leads in synthetic media, such as AI presenters and virtual characters in corporate communication and digital storytelling.
UAE75%
Saudi Arabia70%
Qatar65%
Egypt40%
Lebanon35%
Five shifts the report expects
The report sets out five structural changes. Content abundance changes where value is created. AI lowers the barriers to entering the industry and widens competition. Arabic, cultural context and proprietary data become strategic assets. Media companies redesign their economics rather than only cutting costs. And trust and authenticity become a source of competitive advantage.
How the research was done
The report measures adoption as the share of media organisations using AI in at least one operational workflow, such as content production, editorial operations, audience engagement, translation and localisation, production automation or content analytics. The adoption estimates draw on primary research with media companies and industry professionals across the region, supported by secondary research on AI adoption and market developments in each country. The spending figures are estimates of what media companies spend on AI software and services. The study covers traditional, generative and agentic AI as well as synthetic media, across the creation, distribution and monetisation of content, in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt and Morocco. It doesn't say how many companies or people took part.
What it means for marketers
The media companies that Gulf brands buy from are fast becoming AI businesses. In Saudi Arabia and the UAE most already use AI somewhere in their work, and most of the region's AI software spending goes on distributing and creating content. Brands should expect faster production, more versions and more automated targeting from their media and PR partners, and should ask how AI is used, how its output is checked and how synthetic presenters or voices are disclosed.
The report's emphasis on Arabic and proprietary data matters too. If Arabic and local context become the scarce assets, brands with strong Arabic content and their own customer data will get more from AI tools than those relying on generic, translated material. Its point about trust cuts the same way: as AI-made content multiplies, clear disclosure and credible sources become part of the brand.
About this report
Published by Dubai Press Club and Deloitte, September 2026. Free. Get the full report from the Arab Media Summit
Sources
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