Major social media platforms saw significant growth in their advertising reach across UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to reports released by socially-led creative agency We Are Social and Hootsuite.
Digital 2020: UAE found that Instagram saw the biggest growth in its advertising audience of the major social media platforms with +12%. Snapchat also saw strong growth with +9.3%, and Facebook’s ad audience increased by +5.2%. However, not all platforms performed so well; LinkedIn saw a drop of -2.3% and Twitter was down by -0.5%.
Meanwhile, Digital 2020: Saudi Arabia found that Instagram’s advertising audience has stalled with 0% growth in the region. Facebook was the stand-out performer with an increase of +8.3%, Linkedin +5.1% and Snapchat +2.9%. Again, it was bad news for Twitter with a -2.6% fall.
Amongst internet users aged 16 to 64, more people in UAE report using YouTube than any other platform, with 88% of internet users aged 16 to 64 stating they used it in the last month. Facebook and WhatsApp follow with 79% apiece.
Short-form video app TikTok hit the press headlines this year, but still falls relatively low in the usage charts, with 29% of internet users aged 16 to 64 in UAE stating they had used the platform in the last month. In Saudi Arabia, TikTok use rates are slightly higher, at 31%, though the platform still trails the likes of Snapchat (45%).
