Skip to main content

Digital Consumer Trends 2025

Measuring what matters in tech, media and telecoms

Download the report
3 MB PDF

Digital Consumer Trends is a study of how people engage with and purchase digital products. It spans devices, connectivity, media and emerging technologies. This research comprises a representative sample of 2,000 consumers across KSA and UAE, aged 18-50, and weighted for demographics such as age, gender, region and working status.

47%

of people who have used Gen AI have used it for work purpose

89%

plan to purchase a connected device in the next 12 months

56%

think that companies often overstate their "green" image

73%

made a purchase through social media in the past 12 months

Key Takeaways: 

Adoption and awareness of generative AI is high, particularly amongst UAE respondents;  however, 20% have still not heard of it!

In the KSA+UAE countries, around 58% of respondents have used Gen AI applications such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini and others. Awareness is particularly high in UAE and markedly higher than in European markets including the UK.

Citizens in KSA and UAE are clearly showing enthusiasm to the new technology, which will generate the future demand for AI related tools and applications. Business leaders must continue fostering this positive outlook while addressing the challenges and concerns associated with the adoption of Gen AI.

For more details download the KSA+UAE DCT 2025 report.

Smartphone has the highest daily usage rate, followed by Smart TV

Claimed daily usage of devices confirms the dominance of smartphones as the primary access device with 96% of daily usage. VR continues to remain niche with 24% usage for VR headsets. Comparison with the UK shows a lower frequency of usage in the region of Smart TV but a much higher usage of gaming console, in line with the avid gaming consumption of the KSA market.

Whereas, Smart Home adoption in KSA+UAE is still emerging, while Smart Entertainment devices are more popular but still shows a significant gap in adoption compared to Western Markets.

For more details download the KSA+UAE DCT 2025 report.

Across the age groups, social media is the primary source of news content for most residents in KSA and the UAE

News consumption via social media (including influencers and celebrities online) is now the most preferred method for staying updated on news / current events, driven by factors such as widespread mobile connectivity, high internet penetration, and social media usage, among all age groups. 

Comparatively, reliance on traditional news outlet is low at 30% for TV and 22% for news websites and even lower for Radio. This trend also has an impact on the quality and reliability of the sources of information consumption.

For more details download the KSA+UAE DCT 2025 report.

Did you find this useful?

Yes
No

Thanks for your feedback

Your feedback is important to us

To tell us what you think, please update your settings to accept analytics and performance cookies.

Need help updating cookies?

Get in touch

Emmanuel Durou

Partner I Technology, Media & Telecommunications Leader
+ 971 (0) 4 376 8888