Snap Inc. and Kearney MEA Reveal Advertisers May Be Leaving Growth on the Table as Digital Ad Spend Outpaces Marketing Maturity

New research finds an 8-percentage-point gap between digital advertising growth and e-commerce outcomes in the Kingdom — and a clear path to closing it

Key Findings:

• Digital ad spend in Saudi Arabia grew 23.5% year-on-year in 2024, the fastest rate in MENA.
• E-commerce growth lagged digital advertising growth by 8 percentage points, highlighting a widening gap between investment and outcomes.
• More than 30% of Saudi consumers believe advertising from local brands lacks cultural relevance.
• Nearly 70% of platform-driven impact is linked to cross-channel synergies.

Snap Inc., in partnership with Kearney MEA, today launched the Saudi Digital Ad Maturity Framework, introducing a new benchmark for marketing effectiveness and providing advertisers with practical guidance to improve business outcomes. The framework is designed to help brands address a growing challenge in the Kingdom: translating rising digital advertising investment into measurable growth.

The new research from Kearney MEA and Snap Inc. finds digital ad spend in the Kingdom grew 23.5% year-on-year in 2024, the fastest rate in MENA, yet e-commerce growth lagged by 8 percentage points, revealing a widening gap between investment and business outcomes.

Designed for large local enterprises, established global enterprises, and government as well as semi-government entities, it provides a comprehensive assessment of marketing maturity alongside tailored recommendations based on an organization’s needs, capabilities and market objectives.

The framework reflects Snap’s continued commitment to supporting Saudi Arabia’s digital economy and helping advertisers strengthen their marketing capabilities. As the Kingdom’s digital economy continues to expand, the framework serves as a valuable resource for advertisers looking to build stronger, more effective marketing strategies.

The framework evaluates advertisers across four key pillars: Strategy & Organization; Creative & Localization; Experience & Activation; and Data, Tech & Measurement. Built on research with Saudi consumers and in-depth interviews with advertisers, it helps brands build more localized, customer-centric, and measurable marketing strategies. The research found that more than 30% of Saudi consumers believe advertising from local brands still lacks cultural relevance, highlighting the importance of deeper localization and stronger audience understanding.

“Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s fastest-growing digital economies, and brands today need more than increased media investment to capture that opportunity. They need fit-for-market strategies grounded in local audiences, behaviours, and platforms. Through our partnership with Kearney MEA, we are helping marketers — global, regional and local, large and small — assess and strengthen their digital capabilities, improve campaign effectiveness, and deliver stronger business outcomes, while supporting the continued evolution of the Kingdom’s marketing landscape,” said Julie Caironi, Head of Marketing, Snap Inc. MENA & APAC.

“Digital advertising in Saudi Arabia is entering a new phase. While investment continues to grow rapidly, many organizations are still working to translate that growth into proportional business impact — what we describe as the ‘Saudi performance tension.”

The challenge is not one of opportunity or spend, but of maturity. Organizations that consistently outperform have developed stronger capabilities across four critical areas of marketing effectiveness.

“Together with Snap, we developed this framework to help advertisers identify the gaps limiting performance, prioritize where to focus, and define a clear path toward stronger and more sustainable results.” Hadi Hammoud, Partner, Kearney.

Available through a comprehensive whitepaper and assessment tool, the framework helps organizations evaluate their current capabilities, identify opportunities for improvement, and build more effective marketing strategies for long-term growth.