Trending influencers in Middle East shaping online culture in 2025

• Fatima Saif
• . November 15, 2025
• . Update: November 15, 2025 8:41 pm
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A phone lights up at a café in Dubai Marina, reels rush past, comments ping, a perfume ad slips in like a whisper. Trending influencers in Middle East steer this scroll. They set taste, spark travel plans, and push product carts. Strange how normal it feels now.

Why Influencers are Essential in the Middle East

Influencers in the Middle East shape shopping, style, food, travel, even weekend plans. The region’s audiences spend long hours on short videos and stories, and creators meet them there with quick edits, clean visuals, and talk that sounds local. Brands shift budgets to these screens because attention lives here. Simple, measurable, close to purchase. That is the draw, and frankly, the pressure too.

The Growth of Influencer Marketing in the Region

Budgets moved steadily to creator partnerships as TV and print lost daily reach. Agencies in Dubai, Riyadh, Doha, and Kuwait City now run creator rosters like sports teams, tracking categories and seasonality. Ramadan calendars get booked early, Saudi National Day fills fast, Expo style events push spikes in content. Even smaller restaurants plan soft launches through city vloggers. The loop is predictable, yet not boring. Results come faster, creativity is cheaper to test, and edits happen in hours. Sometimes it is chaotic, but campaigns breathe.

Top Trending Influencers in the Middle East (2025)

Names recur in boardrooms because their audiences react on cue. Beauty and fashion lean on Huda Kattan, Joelle Mardinian, Karen Wazen. Lifestyle and culture often ride with Haifa Beseisso, Khalid Al Ameri, Hayla Ghazal. Saudi entertainment pulls huge watch time through Noor Stars and Njoud Al Shammari. 

Tech, gaming, and cars see Ahmed Al Nasheet and other regional creators swing between Arabic and English with ease. Travel creators sell hotel nights by showing the room key, the lobby scent, the sea breeze at 6 am. Not complicated, just real. That’s how teams talk about it anyway.

Key Trends Driving the Middle East Influencer Scene

• Short video first: Hooks in three seconds, tight cuts, captions on, music that feels like the street. Arabic first, but bilingual subtitles keep cross-border reach alive. Simple, sharp, watchable. That’s the pattern most days.
• Micro communities that actually talk back: Creators in the 10k–100k range reply in DMs, pin comments, ask for photo proofs. Feels like a group chat, not a stage. Conversions come quieter, steadier.
• Local voice, city tags, real timing: Posts tuned to prayer times, school runs, weekend nights. City names in the first line help. A Riyadh café reel smells of cardamom and hot milk, viewers notice. Small detail, big pull.
• Sell on-screen, not in theory: Price in frame, link near the top, one clear offer. Live shopping trials keep going for beauty, modest fashion, pantry staples. When stock lands late, numbers dip. Obvious, still the trap.
• Offline sparks online: Pop-ups in malls, match-day reels outside stadiums, quick café meetups that sound noisy on purpose. Texture of real life carries into the clip. People stay longer, then click.
• Rights and reuse done right: Usage windows agreed early, paid whitelisting for top posts, UGC cut-downs for ads. Templates speed edits, sure, but face-to-camera wins trust. It always has, and probably will.

Country-Wise Breakdown: Where the Influence Is Strongest

The Evolving Face of Influence in the Middle East

Influence here sounds like street chat, café noise, and studio lights switched on at midnight. Trending influencers in the Middle East turn daily scrolls into decisions, quietly and fast. The brands that listen to audience slang, ship products on time, and trust creators to speak plainly, see results. Not magic, just process. The market changes each quarter, yet the basics stay. Clear message. Right face. Right moment. That’s the job, and on most days, it works.

FAQs about Middle East Influencers

Q1. How do brands check authenticity when booking trending influencers in the Middle East?

Brands review audience geography, comment quality, and story views over time, then compare against past sponsored posts to see if conversions hold steady.

Q2. What content formats usually work best for quick sales in this region’s campaigns?

Short vertical videos with clear hooks in three seconds, on-screen price, and a direct link placed near the caption top tend to move fastest.

Q3. How early should brands confirm Ramadan influencer partnerships to stay safe on timelines?

Most agencies finish priority bookings eight to ten weeks ahead, then leave a small buffer for last-minute tactical shorts that fill gaps.

Q4. Do micro influencers in the Middle East really convert better than larger celebrity pages now?

Often yes, because comments feel like real friends, and creators reply quickly, though big creators still help with reach and social proof.

Q5. What mistakes make a Middle East influencer campaign underperform even with a strong creator?

Late briefs, unclear offers, slow product dispatch, and captions without a pinned call to action reduce clicks, even when the reel looks great.