Digital media channels cornered close to 70 percent of the $6.5 billion spent on advertising in 2020 in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, fueled by the pandemic-induced consumer switch to the virtual world, market research shows.

Within digital media, social media is fast emerging as the most preferred channel for advertisers, cornering as much as 30 percent of the total ad pie in the region last year, according to the report by RedSeer Consulting, a leading global consultancy major.

The report, exclusively shared with Arabian Business, also projected the share of spending on social media ad space to jump to 32 percent of the total $7.5 billion market in 2021. Other digital channels are slated to share 39 percent of the total spending.