Mark Smith takes a look at the development of ad tech across the MENA region, and why predictions of growth seem well founded… 

The rapid growth of the ad tech sector in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) shows no signs of slowing down. 

Driven by a comparatively young and tech-hungry population as well as increasing internet and smartphone availability, challenges around issues of data transparency and confidence are also seeing marketers turn to new technology.

This has all combined to paint a picture of an industry and a region on the up. The market itself grew to USD $6.95bn (£5.2bn) last year, a 19.8% increase from the previous year - significantly outpacing growth in the US and Europe.

Daniel Weinbaum, associate partner at media and telecommunications consultants Altman Solon, recently co-authored a digital advertising study with IAB MENA, the not-for-profit industry body for digital media and data-driven advertising in the region. 

They surveyed companies across the region and found that although social media continued to dominate digital advertising spend, there was a growing appetite for using digital out-of-home (DOOH), connected TV (CTV), and digital audio. 

It also found MENA ad sellers and agencies overwhelmingly saw ad tech as the best way to mitigate against concerns related to specific challenges in the region, such as limited marketer education and ad fraud. 

"The ad tech sector in MENA will continue to grow as advertisers gain access to a wider range of digital inventory beyond traditional channels," said Daniel.

"Campaigns today are more complex, spanning multiple formats and requiring measurement at scale, and that complexity is fuelling investment in ad tech. At the same time, local publishers are enhancing their tech stacks to better demonstrate ROI, building confidence among buyers, and ideally driving upsells and renewals."

Sachin Kumar, co-founder and CEO of India based contextual intelligence company Smartifai, added that strategic investments in contextual video and CTV formats, fast adoption of GenAI for creative and personalisation and the rapid rise of retail media were also driving expansion. 

She said: "With privacy changes and cookie decline reshaping targeting strategies, brands are increasingly turning to contextual advertising, not just in display, but importantly across video and CTV formats."

Lolly Mason, head of strategic accounts, media, and advertising at Star Global Tech consultancy, said the overall growth picture in MENA was 'pretty rosy'. 

She added that ad tech companies which moved quickly to identify AI uses with 'true value ahead of novelty', and could do so safely, were becoming increasingly important to brands. 

"Some of the most valuable use cases we have seen so far focus on AI-based bidding, campaign management - including in the CTV space, which is already undergoing its own evolution - plus hyper-personalisation and creative scaling."

Changing view of investors

Growth, especially for tech disruptors, is of course dependent on finance. And the market is also seeing a shift in terms of what regional investors are willing to put their money into. 

"Investor sentiment is positive," said Daniel.

"What was once a market dominated by global tech giants is now attracting a wider set of investors and ad tech companies eager to establish a presence. We’re also seeing promising homegrown players emerge, which could become attractive investment targets as the ecosystem matures. The combination of diversity, dynamism, and rapid evolution makes MENA a compelling market."

Sachin agrees. She said regional investors were traditionally more comfortable backing fintech, e-commerce, or logistics companies - sectors with what she said were faster and clearer paths to monetisation. 

"Ad tech was often seen as a niche or dependent on global platforms. But that view is changing," she said. 

"The emergence of local innovation stories has helped credibility. Startups and scale-ups from MENA have shown that contextual tech, retail media, and CTV solutions can be built locally and win global recognition, awards, and even M&A interest. This proves that MENA is capable of producing scalable, exportable ad tech."

Challenges to continued growth 

Data, data everywhere – but how much of it to trust?

That sums up one of the challenges to continued growth in the region. Daniel said, 'trust and transparency' remain the biggest hurdles. 

The Altman Solon/IAB MENA study found the MENA advertising ecosystem was impacted by limited ad consumption data, which complicated investment in what was perceived as 'unmeasurable'.

One CMO of global CPG retailer’ MENA Subsidiary told the survey: "As a marketer, I don’t know who to trust anymore with regard to data. Most of us are living quarter-to-quarter to meet our targets."

This was a problem according to Daniel: "Data transparency and confidence in measurement were consistently cited as barriers to spend." 

But the study also found marketers in the region are actively looking to strengthen first-party data collection and create new partnerships with ad tech companies and agencies to enhance data accuracy, refine audience targeting, and optimise campaign performance.

Daniel added that addressing the challenges would require collaboration across publishers to share data more effectively, a strategy which he said had been successful in the US and Europe. 

"If replicated here, it could strengthen trust and sustain the region’s growth trajectory," he added. 

Regulations - not just at tech level but also government level – also posed future challenges according to Debsena Chakraborty, VP for MENA at ad fraud solution mFilterit.

He said: "The UAE’s overhauled media law and Saudi/UAE content standards mean stricter brand-safety guidelines. Chrome’s changes apply here too, but publisher IDs, retailer graphs, telco data, and OTT IDs are uneven by country. Building compliant, market-by-market first-party data and clean-room norms is more nuanced."

The ad tech market picture in MENA though appears overwhelmingly positive, with a tech-hungry population, changing attitude of investors, and marketers’ willingness - and need -  to try new technology, predictions of growth over the next few years seem well founded.