Monetizing Creativity — How Saudi Arabia Is Building a Scalable Creator Economy

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s creator economy is entering a new phase of scale and institutionalization, supported by strong digital demand, evolving monetization models, and a policy environment aligned with Vision 2030.

As the Kingdom targets SR47 billion ($12.5 billion) in media sector output — around 0.8 percent of gross domestic product — and 150,000 jobs, industry leaders say the shift from informal influencer activity to a regulated, performance-driven creator industry is reshaping the future of media, commerce, and content exports.

Saudi brands are shifting budgets toward creators as attention concentrates on social platforms and commerce becomes increasingly performance-driven, prompting marketers to move from traditional media buys to diversified creator portfolios that balance reach and authenticity.

At the same time, Arabic-first content — rooted in cultural relevance, regional adaptability, and seasonality such as Ramadan peaks — is reshaping monetization, with creators who build culturally resonant IP best positioned for sustainable growth.

According to Shahid Khan, partner, and global head of media, entertainment, sports, and culture at Arthur D. Little, Saudi Arabia’s creator economy has moved beyond the “Influencer Moment” and is now entering a new stage of scaling and institutionalization with mature consumer demand, a rapidly professionalizing supply side, and an increasingly supportive policy environment.

“In terms of demand-side fundamentals, the creator economy in Saudi Arabia has near universal connectivity and social reach, with increasingly commerce-driven consumer behaviors,” Khan said.

He added: “On the supply side, the creator economy is rapidly professionalizing, with growth in the number of studios, agencies, talent management, training, and brand partnerships.”

Khan highlighted that initiatives such as the Mawthooq licensing framework formalize the sector, while projects like Saudi Media City and the Riyadh Creative District build the broader ecosystem needed for scale — including production, legal, and brand partnerships, as well as advertising tech, training, distribution, and monetization.

Dominic Lynch, marketing director at Bain & Co., noted that Saudi Arabia is already a scale market for creators because digital reach is near-universal and engagement is structurally high. 

There were over 35 million social media user identities in January 2024 and internet penetration was at around 99 percent by early 2025.

Lynch said a “key inflection point“ is professionalization with clearer expectations around paid content, disclosure, and advertising standards.

He added that these developments are making creator inventory easier for brands to buy at scale and for agencies to package as a repeatable, investable business. 

“Cluster-style ‘Media City’ initiatives matter primarily as enablers, concentrating talent, production, and services to reduce friction and increase output,” Lynch said.

Successful monetization models

In Saudi Arabia, the most resilient creator business models are those that are built upon a hybrid monetization approach, ADL’s Khan explained.

“Those creators that are reliant upon a single stream, particularly a single stream of payouts from a platform, are certainly vulnerable,” he said.

Khan added that branded content and sponsorships remain the primary revenue stream in Saudi Arabia’s creator economy, while social commerce and affiliate marketing are rapidly growing as creators become direct sales and conversion channels. 

Platform revenue share, subscriptions in niche segments, and long-term IP licensing and format exports are also emerging as important monetization models.

Lynch from Bain & Co. stated that the most effective monetization mix today is brand partnerships combined with platform monetization and commerce, with brand deals remaining the anchor because they scale fastest and can be tied to always-on content and measurable outcomes.

 “Creators are shifting from one-off posts to repeatable formats and conversion-linked content, while brands are reallocating spend toward creator-led performance and UGC-style assets to feed short-form channels more efficiently. Signals of maturity are emerging, including a growing cohort of creators generating seven-figure annual revenues,” he said.

Saudi Arabia as a digital content hub 

Saudi Arabia can credibly become a regional export hub as the largest scale market within a rapidly expanding GCC creator ecosystem, using its domestic audience as a testing ground before regional rollout.

From ADL’s lens, building local capabilities is essential, and programs like the Saudi Media Academy play a key role given the jobs supported across the creator economy supply chain.

“Creators can become a meaningful source of SME activity and employment, especially in the digital economy. Their economic value is concentrated in four areas: attention commerce, commerce enablement, IP production, and human capital development,” Khan said. 

From his side, Lynch stressed that local agencies are competitive on Arabic creative quality, cultural fluency, production speed, and brand integration, but global platforms still dominate discovery, monetization infrastructure, and cross-border distribution, leaving bargaining power structurally tilted in their favor.

 “The main risks to long-term growth are regulatory and compliance drift that raises operating costs, heavy dependency on a small number of platforms and algorithms, and income volatility that weakens creator sustainability without diversified revenue streams and disciplined commercial structures,” he said.

A creator feeling content

Lama Alhamawi is a Saudi content creator and host of the Discussions podcast, with a reach of 1.2 million across various social networks.

 She told Arab News that the diversity of topics, creativity, and storytelling have been transformed over the last few years in the Kingdom.

“Whether it’s new reforms and regulations or the results of economic diversification from Vision 2030, it has really not only diversified the economy but also the content itself. We see local and international content creators drawing inspiration from so many different subjects now, and we’ve really seen this immense transformation in Saudi content from all aspects,” Alhamawi said. 

With regards to how the environment in the Kingdom is attracting creators, she said: “We are seeing the proof of it every day. Creators are flying in from around the world — some traveling over 20 hours from places like Australia driven by a global curiosity to see the Kingdom for themselves.”

Saudi Arabia offers a safe, content-rich environment — especially driven by Islamic tourism — which supports cultural storytelling, but content creation remains financially inconsistent, with creators relying heavily on partnerships and sponsorships to sustain their work, Alhamawi added.

Brand engagement

When it comes to how Saudi brands are rethinking media and marketing spend toward creators, Dyala Badran, chief content officer at commerce expertise firm Publicis Groupe Middle East, explained that Saudi brands are no longer treating creators as incremental branding add-ons.

“We are seeing a clear shift toward positioning creators as full media solutions, sitting at the intersection of content, commerce, and performance,” Badran said.

“Creators are increasingly embedded into the core marketing mix, supporting everything from demand generation to conversion. As a result, monetization models that are outcome-based are scaling most sustainably in the Kingdom,” she added.

The focus is shifting toward affiliate marketing, performance-based partnerships, and long-term brand ambassador models instead of one-off collaborations. At the same time, brands are increasingly prioritizing micro-creators, whose stronger credibility and community engagement often deliver more measurable impact than sheer reach.

She further highlighted that if there were one major shift the company seeks to accelerate its success in Saudi Arabia, it would be stronger, more transparent measurement systems that clearly link creator activity to real business outcomes.