Market Update: How MENA’s creator economy is rewriting the rules of brand strategy – Full Analysis

There’s a card to play at brands’ fingertips that grows more powerful by the day – one that’s often overlooked or poorly utilised: influencers and content creators. A group so successful and influential that they’ve built a whole economy around themselves. This creator economy has become impossible to ignore – emerging as one of the MENA region’s major growth drivers for brand building and business innovation.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve seen the brand-creator relationship evolve, watching as a space dominated by fleeting trends and short-lived influencer campaigns matured into a sophisticated ecosystem. Today, creators are entrepreneurs, cultural leaders, and trusted community-builders shaping consumer behaviour far beyond likes and views.

Across MENA, they drive tangible, lasting change in how brands interact with consumers. Coming in all sizes, they forge digital pathways in many different categories. They launch wildly successful businesses, innovate new products, and build dedicated communities upon shared interests and authentic connections.

As content, commerce, and culture converge, creators have synergised to make themselves pivotal not just in digital engagement but across entire industries.

Brands used to typically prioritise follower count and visibility when working with influencers, often resulting in one-off posts that were quickly forgotten.

Today, however, forward-thinking brands recognise that the real value lies in alignment and storytelling – collaborations rooted in shared values and sustained mutual benefit. Influencer marketing went from add-on, experimental, transactional exchanges to strategic partnerships.

When Weber Shandwick MENAT launched an inaugural InfluAnswer Arabia report in 2024, it was about listening – seeing the industry through the eyes of its creators and understanding what they needed from brands to build stronger, more sustainable relationships. A year later, the second edition brought something even more valuable: a point of comparison.

With two years of data, patterns began to emerge, revealing not just what creators want, but how their expectations, behaviours, and the ecosystem around them are actively evolving.

A creator economy that is confident and more complex

The research found a creator economy that is both more confident and more complex. Influencers across MENA are balancing authenticity against mounting external pressures. Nearly six in ten creators cited platform algorithms as one of their biggest barriers to staying authentic, while brand restrictions and increasing commercial demands followed closely behind.

In parallel, the broader creator ecosystem across MENA is becoming more defined and more demanding. Platform changes, new monetisation tools, and the growing prevalence of artificial intelligence are reshaping how influencers operate and how value is created. From AI-powered planning and analytics to live formats and direct-to-fan models, creators are being pushed to professionalise faster, diversify income streams, and think beyond single-platform success. Developments in this infrastructure are raising expectations on all sides.

This evolution doesn’t happen in a vacuum – it places a clear responsibility on brands, and the agencies that connect them with creators, to keep pace. Agencies that deeply understand both influencer aspirations and brand objectives are uniquely positioned to foster impactful, long-lasting partnerships. They bridge gaps, align objectives, and enable brands to innovate their collaborations.

Yet, for the MENA creator economy to continue its trajectory, all parties must adapt quickly. The rapid pace of technological advancement – particularly generative AI – coupled with shifting measurement standards and economic pressures, will continue to disrupt an already dynamic industry. If brands insist on tried tactics or hesitate to consider new approaches, they risk losing relevance and market share.

The solution is two-fold: strategic adaptation and a fundamental shift in mindset. Brands need to move beyond viewing influencers as campaign add-ons and start treating them as co-creators, innovators, and long-term business partners. And equally as important, creators should continue to demonstrate professionalism, strategic foresight, and an ability to deliver measurable value beyond likes and shares.

We’re optimistic about this evolution; it excites us. There’s a clear appetite from creators for deeper and smarter collaborations, matched by brands increasingly open to innovating. As we look at what’s coming, we see this economy characterised by bold creativity, strategic alignment, and mutual growth.

Those brands brave enough to embrace this new model will not only thrive in the current digital age – they will help shape the future of commerce and culture in MENA. And for those brands, we are here.

The writer is the regional MD at Weber Shandwick MENAT.