By: Ramy El Kassis: Regional Business Director, DMS

2025 in Review, 2026 Ahead: From Reach to Real Impact

As we close out 2025, one lesson stands out clearly for anyone operating seriously in media and marketing across MENA: Scale alone is no longer a strategy.

For years, the industry has optimized for reach, impressions, and headline CPM efficiency. In 2025, that model finally hit its ceiling. Brands began asking harder questions. Not “How many people did I reach?” but “Who actually paid attention?”, “What environment did my brand appear in?”, and “Did this move the needle in a measurable way?”

The defining shift of 2025 was the re-evaluation of value in digital advertising. Attention metrics moved from “nice-to-have” to essential. Premium video environments outperformed open platforms not just in brand lift, but in trust and outcomes. Advertisers became less tolerant of low-quality inventory, opaque reporting, and inflated scale that delivered little business impact.

This was particularly evident in video and CTV. As budgets tightened and scrutiny increased, brands gravitated toward environments offering clarity, control, and credibility. Context, content quality, and first-party data became differentiators rather than buzzwords. In short, 2025 was the year the market matured.

Looking ahead to 2026, my prediction is both bold and grounded: 

  1. Media buying in MENA will consolidate around fewer, stronger ecosystems rather than fragmented point solutions.
  2. Advertisers will increasingly favor partners who can offer unified access across screens, formats, and markets through a single commercial and measurement framework. Video will no longer be split into silos like VOD, CTV, instream, or Outstream. It will be planned, bought, and evaluated holistically.
  3. Retail media will accelerate this shift. As commerce data becomes more accessible and better integrated with premium media, the expectation will be simple: show me how brand, attention, and transaction connect. Players unable to bridge that gap will struggle to justify their place in the plan.
  4. Regional nuance will matter more than ever. Global strategies will continue to influence planning, but success in MENA will depend on local relevance, cultural alignment, and market specific execution. One-size-fits-all will quietly disappear.

In 2026, the winners will not be the loudest platforms or the cheapest CPMs. They will be the partners who deliver quality at scale, transparency by design, and outcomes that stand up to scrutiny.

The era of digital excess is ending. What comes next is more disciplined, more accountable, and ultimately, more effective.