The Saudi Digital Advertising Maturity Framework, launched by Snap Inc. and Kearney, identifies an eight-percentage-point gap between growth in digital advertising spending and e-commerce growth in the kingdom, pointing to scope for more efficient investment and a clearer link to measurable business results.
The gap alone does not explain market performance. E-commerce is shaped by factors including sector dynamics, changing consumer behavior and the split between digital and traditional purchasing channels.
Abdullah Al-Hammadi, Snap Inc.’s general manager in Saudi Arabia, said the gap reflected a market moving beyond digital expansion into a more advanced phase focused on effectiveness and measurement.
“Higher spending alone does not automatically produce stronger business outcomes,” Al-Hammadi told Asharq Al-Awsat in an exclusive interview.
The challenge, he said, was no longer simply reaching consumers, but connecting strategy, content, consumer journey activation, data and measurement within one system.
From growth to effectiveness
Snap Inc. and Kearney developed the Saudi Digital Advertising Maturity Framework to help organizations assess how well they convert advertising investment into measurable business outcomes, rather than judging performance by spending alone.
The framework covers four areas: strategy; creativity and localization; consumer journey activation; and data and measurement.
Strength in one area does not offset weakness elsewhere. The focus is on how closely the four areas work together, from campaign planning to the final measurement of impact.
Al-Hammadi said the aim was not to slow digital investment, but to make it more effective.
“Saudi Arabia already has the digital infrastructure, consumer engagement and growth momentum,” he said.
“The next opportunity is to ensure advertisers have the maturity, local relevance and measurement discipline needed to turn that momentum into sustainable business outcomes.”
The central challenge, therefore, is not whether advertisers can reach consumers, but whether that reach changes awareness, consideration, purchase intent, engagement or sales.
Uneven levels of maturity
Advertisers in Saudi Arabia are not starting from the same point.
Large local companies typically have more resources, larger teams and stronger data capabilities than small and medium-sized businesses. Global brands entering the kingdom face a different challenge: understanding local consumers.
Government entities, startups and e-commerce platforms also have distinct needs.
The framework therefore does not identify a single weak point shared by all advertisers.
One organization may have a clear strategy but weak measurement. Another may produce locally relevant content without the data systems needed to show its commercial impact.
Al-Hammadi said two areas offered particularly clear room for improvement: activating the full consumer journey and integrating measurement.
Some organizations, he said, were still building the data capabilities, talent and tools needed to measure impact beyond the performance of an individual campaign.
That has become more important as digital platforms play a role across discovery, consideration, conversion and post-purchase engagement, rather than serving only as tools for brand awareness.
One connected system
Weak campaign results are rarely caused by one isolated problem.
The content may be strong, but the business objective is unclear. A campaign may reach a wide audience without being tied to stages of the consumer journey. An organization may collect large amounts of data but fail to identify what actually drove the result.
“Campaigns are more likely to deliver business outcomes when strategy, creativity, activation and measurement work together from the outset,” Al-Hammadi said.
When those functions operate separately, a company may generate strong reach, views or engagement but still struggle to explain what contributed to the final outcome or what should be expanded in future campaigns.
That requires measurement to begin before a campaign launches.
Organizations must first define the desired result, the indicators used to track it and the data needed to assess it.
This shifts marketing from a series of separate campaigns into a continuous system linking creative, technical and commercial decisions.
Beyond translation
More than 30% of Saudi consumers believe advertising lacks cultural relevance, according to the research.
The finding does not mean Saudi brands fail to understand their market. It reflects how quickly audience expectations are changing and how easily consumers recognize generic messages or campaigns adapted from other markets.
“Cultural relevance today goes beyond Arabic-language copy or local imagery,” Al-Hammadi said.
It also includes the creative concept, use of language, choice of content creators, platform experience, timing and the way audience response is measured.
Effective localization cannot be achieved by translating a global advertisement after it has already been developed.
An understanding of the Saudi market must shape the campaign from the strategy stage.
That includes communication styles, differences between age groups, cultural and social occasions, the platforms used by each audience and what feels natural or artificial in advertising.
“When relevance is designed across the entire marketing system, the work feels more natural to Saudi audiences and is more likely to translate into stronger business outcomes,” Al-Hammadi said.
The cross-channel effect
Traditional measurement models often credit the final channel used before a purchase.
Consumer behavior, however, rarely follows a straight line.
A consumer may discover a product on a social platform, search for it, watch reviews and visit a store or app before buying later.
According to Kantar’s 2025 cross-media analysis in Saudi Arabia, nearly 70% of platform-driven impact in some cases came from interaction between multiple channels, rather than from one platform acting alone.
The figure does not mean every campaign delivers the same result. It shows that a significant share of impact may come from the way channels reinforce one another.
The meaning of “impact” also depends on the campaign objective.
It may refer to stronger awareness, consideration or purchase intent. It may also include engagement, website or app activity, leads or purchases.
Measuring each platform in isolation may therefore undervalue earlier interactions that helped shape a consumer’s decision, even when they did not record the final conversion.
Start with one goal
For organizations at an early stage of marketing maturity, Al-Hammadi recommended focusing on one clear business objective over the next six months, rather than trying to fix every weakness at once.
The objective could be increasing digital sales, raising app usage, improving customer retention or converting more consumer interest into purchases.
Once that goal is set, the organization can identify whether the main weakness lies in content, the consumer journey, data or measurement.
“Success should not be measured by the number of campaigns launched, but by marketing’s ability to deliver meaningful business outcomes,” Al-Hammadi said.
