Advancement and Obstacles in Digital Marketing Technology across Middle East and North Africa

MENA Ad Tech Sector Experiences Rapid Growth

The ad tech sector in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is experiencing a significant surge, with no signs of slowing down. According to a digital advertising study by Altman Solon and IAB MENA, the market grew to USD $6.95bn (£5.2bn) last year, marking a 19.8% increase from the previous year.

Social media continues to dominate digital advertising spend in the region, but there is a growing appetite for using digital out-of-home (DOOH), connected TV (CTV), and digital audio. Daniel Weinbaum, associate partner at Altman Solon, predicts that this trend will continue as advertisers gain access to a wider range of digital inventory.

The growth in the MENA ad tech market is driven by a young and tech-hungry population, increasing internet and smartphone availability, and challenges around data transparency and confidence. Lolly Mason, head of strategic accounts at Star Global Tech, describes the overall growth picture in MENA as 'pretty rosy'.

Ad tech is seen as the best way to mitigate challenges in the MENA region, such as limited marketer education and ad fraud. Collaboration across publishers to share data more effectively could strengthen trust and sustain the region's growth trajectory.

However, regulations at both tech and government levels pose future challenges in the MENA ad tech market. The UAE's overhauled media law and Saudi/UAE content standards mean stricter brand-safety guidelines in the region. Building compliant, market-by-market first-party data and clean-room norms is more nuanced due to uneven IDs across countries in the MENA region.

Investors and ad tech companies are increasingly interested in establishing a presence in the MENA region. Local innovation stories in MENA have helped credibility, showing that contextual tech, retail media, and CTV solutions can be built locally and win global recognition. Homegrown ad tech players in MENA are emerging and could become attractive investment targets.

Sachin Kumar, co-founder and CEO of Smartifai, believes strategic investments in contextual video and CTV formats, fast adoption of GenAI for creative and personalisation, and the rapid rise of retail media are driving expansion in the MENA ad tech sector. AI-based bidding, campaign management, hyper-personalisation, and creative scaling are valuable use cases of AI in the MENA ad tech sector.

The name of Daniel's partner in the digital advertising analysis study conducted with IAB MENA is not publicly available. Regardless, the positive investor sentiment towards MENA ad tech is clear, with the sector poised for continued growth and innovation.