GCC’s Creator Boom: And Why Brands Can’t Ignore It

The GCC region—which includes Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—is home to 2,63,000 social media influencers as of 2025, marking a 75 percent growth in two years, up from 1,50,000 in 2023, according to data from Qoruz, an influencer marketing intelligence platform.

Aman Narula, chief operating officer, Mad Influence, an influencer marketing agency, adds that GCC-based creators include both Arab and Indian-origin influencers such as Farhana Bodi, Anju Yadav, Rutavi Mehta, and Reshu Malhotra.

Priya Vivek, co-founder and head of partnerships at Qoruz, noted that the GCC saw early traction for influencer marketing in 2018–2019, but it truly accelerated post-pandemic.

Starting around 2021, brands began shifting larger portions of their digital budgets toward creator-driven content—prompting many creators, especially those of Indian origin, to relocate to Dubai or Riyadh for better monetization opportunities.

Vaibhav Gupta, co-founder and chief product officer at Klug Klug, an influencer marketing platform, concurred. The GCC began gaining serious momentum in influencer marketing in the mid-2010s, marked by the launch of regional influencer platforms. “Creators began to set base in the GCC more visibly after 2020, with the UAE becoming a key hub,” he said.

Gupta also highlighted the evolution from one-off celebrity endorsements to integrated creator-led campaigns rooted in authenticity.

Narula added that influencer marketing gained popularity in the GCC around 2015, with rapid growth from 2018 onward due to high social media penetration and a young, tech-savvy population. Creators began setting base in the region around 2017–2018, attracted by digital infrastructure and its multicultural environment.

Top trending niches

According to Qoruz’s Vivek, the strongest niches include lifestyle and luxury, fashion and beauty, and food and culinary content. More recently, finance and business creators have been growing, simplifying fintech, crypto, and personal finance for GCC audiences.

The report states that lifestyle and travel creators remain the dominant niche, expanding from 31,000 creators in 2023 to 58,000 in 2025—an 87 percent rise.

Read More: Over 70% of Indian brands turn to influencers to build consumer trust: WPP Media

Health and wellness influencers have grown 76 percent since 2023, particularly in urban Saudi and Emirati communities. Creators in arts and entertainment have seen an 85 percent rise, while finance and business influencers are up 62 percent.

Sahiba Dhandhania, chief executive officer at Confluencr, an influencer marketing agency, added that luxury, beauty, and fashion have always been strong categories. “We now see thriving communities in food, travel, family and parenting, and modest fashion—a powerful and culturally significant niche in this region. The rise of TikTok and Reels has also given birth to a new generation of creators focused on short-form comedy and entertainment,” she said.

How crucial is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing in the GCC has evolved from simple gifting or shoutouts to a strategic channel.

“Today, we see multi-month partnerships, creators being engaged in product co-creation, and even performance-linked contracts,” said Vivek. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat have shaped this maturity, supported by a more data-aware ecosystem.

Creators today are no longer just “content creators”—they act as cultural translators, shaping brand perception across ethnicities, languages, and social classes in the GCC.

Read More: Influencer marketing booms, but brands still flying blind

For GCC-based beauty, fashion, and wellness brands, influencer marketing is now non-negotiable.

Vivek highlighted that several Indian brands quietly built strong equity in the GCC over the years through creators. Brands such as Tanishq, Lenskart, Manyavar, Patanjali, and Malabar Gold expanded their retail footprint while strengthening local creator partnerships. Even ITC’s personal care brands and Marico’s haircare portfolio have leaned on creators to build trust with Indian-origin audiences.

Dhandhania pointed to Lulu Hypermarket in retail and Zomato in F&B as prime examples. “Top-tier creators like Jumana Khan and Rinki Pamnani, who are of Indian origin, have built massive, engaged communities in the UAE. Then there are Emirati creators like Khalid Al Ameri, who masterfully blends humour with family values,” she added.

Gupta noted that micro and nano-influencers are becoming increasingly important as engagement metrics take precedence over follower counts. Short-form video, social commerce, and multilingual storytelling are now dominant, supported by rising regulatory and professional standards.

Vivek added that the ecosystem includes Indian-origin creators across Dubai and Abu Dhabi who are category leaders in fashion, beauty, and wellness; while Arab and hybrid-identity creators are key to regional campaigns. “It’s no longer about nationality—it’s about narrative fit and audience resonance,” she said.

Read More: Why brands are bringing influencer marketing in-house

For example, Lenskart’s Dubai launch was largely creator-led, involving Arab, Indian, and Western lifestyle influencers. Similarly, Malabar Gold consistently partners with GCC-based Indian-origin creators during festivals and wedding seasons. Tourism boards such as Visit Saudi and Visit Dubai rely heavily on creators to promote experiences.

What are the challenges?

One major challenge, as per Qoruz’s Vivek, is fake representation—where brands unknowingly deal with middlemen posing as managers, leading to inflated costs or poor outcomes.

Another challenge, she explained, is ethnicity alignment. Because the GCC is highly diverse, creators must have audiences matching the brand’s target market. An Indian-origin creator may have a global following but minimal GCC visibility.

ROI attribution remains a grey area, especially when brands rely on vanity metrics.

Gupta highlighted additional challenges: maintaining cultural and linguistic authenticity across GCC markets, vetting influencers for genuine engagement, balancing regional vs expat audiences, and navigating regulations around sponsored content. “Fitting the right creator to brand values remains a challenge in a fast-moving ecosystem,” he added.

Vivek recalled a beauty brand that partnered with high-follower creators who had audiences largely outside the GCC. Engagement was high, but local footfall didn’t improve. “Another common pitfall is overloading a campaign with scripted briefs—it kills authenticity, especially in cultures where storytelling matters,” she said.

Narula added to this stating that misaligned messaging may occur if influencers fail to understand local sensitivities or dialects. Additionally, the competitive environment and regulatory requirements make it harder to stand out.

Can brands survive without influencer marketing?

Vivek believes they can—but the journey is slower and harder.

Established Indian brands with strong retail presence or community outreach, such as Malabar Gold or Lulu Hypermarket, can survive on legacy and location. But newer brands rely heavily on influencers to gain mindshare. Without creators, they may have to depend on paid ads or retail activations that lack cultural trust.

Gupta agreed: Indian brands can build visibility through strong product stories, retail footprints, diaspora identity, and localisation. For example, Indian jewellery brands have built store networks appealing to both diaspora and local customers, while trade partnerships and export events also aid visibility.

In an age of AI, Vivek says authenticity becomes a brand’s biggest moat. “Consumers know what’s machine-made and what’s human. Creators, when chosen right, give that human lens. In the GCC, where digital behaviours are evolving fast, influencers are the shortcut to relevance.”

“If a beauty brand enters the GCC without creators talking about it, they’re essentially invisible on TikTok and Instagram,” Vivek explained. “Brands often spend big on digital ads but miss the credibility that a single viral creator story can deliver.”

Dhandhania warns that the biggest con of avoiding influencers is irrelevance—letting competitors own the conversation. She lists the primary drawbacks as:

• Lack of trust: Consumers trust people, not logos.

• Invisibility to Gen Z and Millennials: These groups depend on creators for discovery and validation.

• Slower growth and higher costs: Without creators, customer acquisition becomes more expensive.

She cited the example of Indian skincare and personal brand Minimalist, which initially relied solely on performance ads and was quickly outpaced by competitors like Plum and Bella Vita Organic, which leveraged influencer marketing for trust and recall.

Narula pointed to brands such as Malabar Gold & Diamonds and Tata Motors that found success through retail and digital campaigns, but brands that skip influencer marketing risk missing out on rapid growth and deeper audience engagement.

Gupta added that digital-first brands in the GCC may struggle with discovery, credibility, and social commerce conversion without influencers. Narula highlighted that over 62 percent of consumers in the region are regularly exposed to creator-led content, with more than 35 percent influenced by it in their purchase decisions.

Brands that rely solely on traditional advertising often experience slower penetration and weaker loyalty, especially as short-form content dominates discovery.

Gupta noted that AI tools have made influencer collaborations more measurable and strategic by improving creator selection, content personalisation, and analytics. Narula, however, stressed that while AI aids decision-making, human creators provide relatability and cultural nuance that algorithms cannot replicate.

Gupta added, “More than 35 percent of shoppers in the region say creator content directly influences their purchase decision. For example, a campaign by Bosch Home Appliances engaged regional influencers across the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar to produce lifestyle videos that resulted in a more than 50 percent increase in share of voice.”