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Media industry in Saudi Arabia - statistics & facts

The media industry plays an essential economic role in Saudi Arabia. With a market share of nearly 30 percent, Saudi Arabia dominates the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) media industry, with a media sector worth SAR 17.4 billion. The media industry's transformation is a core pillar of Saudi Arabia's strategic goals, known as Saudi Vision 2030. Investment in this industry will provide more entertainment alternatives, improve media quality, preserve national heritage and ideals, increase the industry’s economic contribution, and promote Saudi Arabia’s image domestically and internationally. The main goal is to develop the media industry into a content hub for the region and improve the quality of life for Saudis.

TV in Saudi Arabia

Historically, free-to-air (FTA) TV has been the most dominant segment. This remains the case, with FTA TV generating the most revenue in Saudi Arabia in 2021. FTA in Saudi Arabia is nearly entirely driven by satellite technology, with monetization via TV advertising. Despite the change to digital advertising, TV advertising continues to dominate the Saudi video industry, with total TV advertising revenues projected to exceed half a billion.

Pay-TV has seen a variety of developments. The most significant recent event was the return of beIN following its suspension in 2017. Pay-TV household penetration has been averaging approximately 20 percent. Piracy and the availability of a large FTA market have been a major barrier to the development of the pay-TV industry.

Traditional media in Saudi Arabia

Traditional segments are stalling, partially because of obsolescence brought on by the expansion of digital segments, especially in the newspaper and video segments. In particular, the video market that FTA traditionally dominated is becoming increasingly crowded by the emerging over-the-top television companies (OTT). With digital media segments expanding, growth in traditional media segments may experience even more barriers in the coming years.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Salma Saleh, Oct 27, 2022

Key insights

Average daily time spent watching TV in MENA
5.66 hours
Most preferred TV program during Ramadan
Ramadan series
Largest media industry in MENA
Saudi Arabia
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