Snapchat vs TikTok vs Meta ads in Saudi Arabia: where should your budget go?

Yes, Snapchat deserves a place in a Saudi store's plan, since 89.0% of adults in the Kingdom used it at the end of 2025. Reach alone does not decide the…

By Abdulhamid Yassin10 November 20265 min read

What the reach figures actually tell you

Snapchat's reach in Saudi Arabia is unusually broad. Snap's ad tools showed reach of 25.3 million users in late 2025, equal to 72.9% of the total population (2), and 89.0% of adults used the platform (1). A government announcement describes the Kingdom as one of Snap's largest markets globally, with more than 26 million people using Snapchat each month (3).

In the same period, TikTok's ad tools showed 38.6 million users aged 18 and over (4), and Meta's tools showed 18.2 million Instagram users (5).

Treat these figures as signals. They do not rank the platforms. Each number comes from the platform's own advertising tools, and each platform counts accounts and audiences in its own way, so they are not like-for-like counts of people. They do confirm two things. None of the three platforms is too small to matter for a Saudi store, and Snapchat cannot be dismissed as a niche channel.

Growth: where the audience is moving

TikTok's potential ad reach in Saudi Arabia grew by 5.81 million (+17.7%) between the end of 2024 and late 2025 (6). Snapchat's grew by 1.01 million (+4.1%) over the same period (7).

Read this gap carefully. Slower growth on Snapchat reflects a platform that already reaches most adults (1). It is not a platform in decline. Faster growth on TikTok means its audience is still expanding, so results you saw there a year ago may not describe the audience you reach today.

In practice, you can plan for Snapchat with confidence in the size of its audience. TikTok is worth re-testing periodically rather than relying on an old verdict.

Which platform suits which product and funnel stage

There is no fixed rule, but you can start from the role each platform plays:

Snapchat: Snap positions itself in Saudi Arabia as a full-funnel platform. It launched a training academy meant to move advertisers away from short-term, conversion-led execution towards full-funnel strategies (8). In practice, judging Snapchat only on purchases in the first few weeks may undervalue it, because it also does work in awareness and consideration.
TikTok: suits products whose benefit can be shown in a short video. With its audience still expanding (6), it is a good place to reach new buyers who do not know your store yet.
Meta: this is often where your store already has purchase history and working tracking, which makes it the natural base for conversion and retargeting campaigns.

Internet use in the Kingdom is almost entirely mobile, with 99.4% using it via mobile phones (9). Build creative for the phone screen first on all three platforms. The higher the price and the longer the buyer needs to think, the more retargeting matters, and the less sense it makes to judge a campaign on the first impression.

How to split the budget across the three

The demand is there. E-commerce sales via Mada cards exceeded SAR 69.3 billion in Q1 2025, up 56% year on year (10). So the question is not whether to advertise. It is where each riyal goes.

A practical way to split it:

Keep most of the budget on the channel that is already proving profitable, the one where you know your CAC and know it works.
Set a fixed test budget for the new channel, and decide in advance how much you are willing to lose if the test fails.
Write the decision rule before you spend: which number makes you scale up, and which number makes you stop.
Judge the decision on store-level numbers such as MER, not on the ROAS each platform reports, because every platform credits itself with a share of the same sales.

If the difference between these metrics is not clear, read MER vs ROAS vs POAS vs ROI before moving budget from one platform to another.

How to test a new channel without wasting spend

Set one objective, one key metric and a fixed duration before you start.
Use the platform's own testing tools where they exist. TikTok Ads Manager supports a custom split test at campaign level that compares Campaign A with Campaign B. Eligible objectives include Website conversions, Product sales and Sales (11).
When you set it up, you enter a test duration and key metric and must make sure the test has sufficient testing power (12). An underpowered test uses up budget without giving you a decision.
Note that TikTok Shop, Search and Reach & Frequency campaigns are not eligible for split tests (12).
Do not change creative or budget mid-test, or you will not know what caused the result.
Run the test for at least one full week. Usage varies by day and hour: daily internet use peaks between 9 pm and 11 pm, and Saturday is among the highest-usage days (13).

Fix measurement before you compare platforms

Comparing platforms means little if each one receives conversion data of different quality. You end up comparing tracking, not channels. Meta says the Conversions API connects an advertiser's server, website, app or CRM data to Meta systems that optimise targeting, decrease cost per result and measure outcomes (14).

Before any test, check that purchase events reach every platform you are testing in full, with the order value attached. Only then is a comparison between Snapchat, TikTok and Meta a fair one.

Sources

Are Snapchat ads worth it for an e-commerce store in Saudi Arabia?

Snapchat reaches a very wide audience, with 89.0% of adults using it at the end of 2025 (1), so it is worth testing in most cases. Whether it pays for your store depends on a controlled test judged on store-level numbers, not on audience size alone.

I only run Meta today. Should I start with TikTok or Snapchat?

Start with the platform that fits your product and how it is best shown. If it explains well in a short video and you want new buyers, TikTok makes sense, and its audience is growing fast (6). If you want broad, stable reach among adults, Snapchat makes sense (1) (7). Test one platform at a time so you can see its effect clearly.

How long should a new-channel test run?

There is no single right duration. Fix it before you start, make it long enough for the sufficient testing power TikTok requires when you set up a split test (12), and make sure it covers every day of the week, since usage varies between days (13).

Why does the ROAS each platform reports not match my store's actual sales?

Each platform credits itself with sales its ads touched, so the same order can be counted on more than one platform. Decide your budget split on a store-level metric such as MER, and use each platform's ROAS only to optimise campaigns inside that platform.

Do I need the Conversions API before increasing spend?

If you advertise on Meta, it is a core step. Meta says it connects server, website, app or CRM data to systems that optimise targeting, decrease cost per result and measure outcomes (14). Without complete conversion data, any comparison between platforms is unfair.