The new rules of ROI: How MENA marketers can win in a fragmented, data-driven era
The marketing playbook is undergoing a pivotal shift amid evolving economic landscapes, demanding strategic and thoughtful planning from businesses across the region. In MENA, companies are grappling with persistent inflation, currency volatility, and high interest rates, all of which are prompting tighter scrutiny on budget allocation and a sharper focus on return on investment (ROI). Fiscal deficits are widening, with Saudi Arabia projected to reach 2.3 per cent of GDP, while geopolitical tensions and global supply chain disruptions from tariffs and conflicts continue to fuel uncertainty.
Still, the region offers compelling opportunities. The GCC continues to outperform the broader MENA region, with the UAE's economy expected to grow 4.8 per cent in 2025, driven largely by non-oil sectors.
A regional tourism boom is also underway, Dubai welcomed over 18 million visitors in 2024 and ambitious economic diversification strategies like Saudi Vision 2030 and We the UAE 2031 are helping maintain investor optimism.
The ROI reset
Media fragmentation is adding complexity to the marketing landscape. With a growing number of online and offline touchpoints, marketers are under pressure to deliver ROI across an increasingly fragmented media environment.
Emerging channels like Connected TV (CTV) are gaining traction, with the GCC's CTV sector projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 15 per cent through 2025. Meanwhile, retail media is expected to propel MENA's e-commerce market to $57 billion in 2026, reinforcing the strategic role of marketing in driving business outcomes.
This rising pressure from economic headwinds to evolving privacy regulations demands a reset. Brands must rethink how they connect with consumers.
I've drawn on Snap's experience supporting brands and agencies across the region to identify three key recommendations to help marketers maximise their return on investments, navigate market volatility and prepare for the slower summer season and the high impact peak periods ahead.
Three ways to maximise ROI in a fragmented ecosystem
1. Invest in holistic measurement frameworks
A robust, future-facing measurement strategy is the foundation of marketing effectiveness today. As measurement capabilities become more complex, marketers are rediscovering the value of holistic, aggregate approaches like Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM). Rather than over-indexing on short-term or last-click metrics, which no longer reflect the multi-touch, multi-platform reality of consumer behaviour, MMM allows marketers a clearer view of the long-term business impact.
According to a recent eMarketer report, while 78 per cent of marketers still use last-click attribution, three in four are moving toward more sophisticated approaches like MMM.
These insights highlight how MMM can uncover underappreciated channels and guide smarter budget allocation. The most forward-thinking brands are triangulating multiple measurement tools, combining MMM, incrementality testing, and advanced attribution, to form a more accurate picture of performance. This shift requires agencies and advertisers to rethink their KPIs, embed MMM into their planning cycles, and balance short-term performance tracking with strategic evaluation frameworks.
2. Let algorithms do the heavy lifting
Managing campaigns manually across fragmented platforms is no longer sustainable. With consumers spread across countless platforms and formats, it's no longer about micromanaging placements, it's about setting the right objectives and letting platforms' algorithms work in real time.
Features like Target Cost Bidding (tCPA) and Campaign Budget Optimisation (CBO) are helping brands automate bidding and budget allocation toward the highest-converting audiences. This approach requires advertisers to define exact KPIs upfront and trust the algorithm to optimise towards them, rather than defaulting to manual campaign adjustments.
Brands embracing these strategies have seen tangible success, with tCPA and CBO improving cost per action (CPA) and cost per mille (CPM) performance while maximising conversion volumes. Still, each platform's algorithm behaves differently. Winning marketers tailor their strategy to each channel's unique dynamics rather than copy-pasting best practices.
3. Improve your data signal quality
In a privacy-first world, your data inputs are your competitive advantage. The quality of the signals brands send to platforms is now one of the most critical performance levers. Stronger signals, whether via pixel, mobile measurement partners (MMP), or Conversions API (CAPI), enable more accurate targeting, smarter optimisation, and clearer attribution.
For web advertisers using the Snap Pixel and integrating the Conversions API, Snapchat data shows a 22 per cent increase in attributed purchases and an 18 per cent improvement in cost per purchase. For iOS app advertisers using an MMP alongside CAPI, there is a 47 per cent increase in attributed installs.
This is especially vital as regulations like GDPR and DSA, along with ecosystem shifts such as ATT and cookie deprecation, have strengthened consumer privacy protections and reshaped how data is collected and used. High-quality first-party data is no longer optional; it's essential to performance and future-proofing.
In this complex but opportunity-rich landscape, the marketers who succeed will be those who evolve quickly and strategically. By investing in holistic measurement, leaning into algorithmic optimisation, and strengthening their data foundations, brands and agencies can navigate the shifting MENA media ecosystem with clarity and confidence.
This trifecta – measurement triangulation, smarter execution, and strong signal quality – will enable marketers to cut through the noise, outperform competitors, and drive meaningful, measurable growth. Those who embrace this shift early will set the pace for performance marketing across MENA's increasingly complex and dynamic landscape.
By Rasha ElGhoussaini, Head of Agency, Snap.
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