Key takeaways
- Creators who promote products or services on social media in the UAE need a National Media Authority advertiser permit.
- Paid and gifted content must be clearly marked as advertising.
- Fit with your customers matters more than follower count; track every creator with a code or link.
What are the rules?
The National Media Authority regulates advertising content, including content by creators. Creators who post paid or promotional content need an advertiser permit, and content must follow the UAE’s media content standards. Health, beauty, financial and other regulated products may need extra approvals. Brands should check permits before they book and keep them on file.
How do you choose creators?
- Audience: are their followers your customers, in the right emirates and languages?
- Engagement: real comments and conversations, not only view counts.
- Content quality and tone that fits your brand.
- Past brand work, and whether it looked natural or forced.
Several smaller creators with engaged local audiences often bring more sales than one large account.
What affects creator fees?
Audience size and engagement, the platform, the number and type of posts, usage rights for your own ads, exclusivity and how much production is involved. Many smaller creators accept products or experiences for early campaigns. Agree everything in writing before content is made.
What should the agreement cover?
- Deliverables, dates and platforms.
- Disclosure, and the creator’s advertiser permit.
- Approval of content before it goes live, and what can’t be said.
- Usage rights if you want to use the content in ads.
- Payment terms, and tracking codes or links.
How do you measure results?
Give each creator a unique discount code or tracked link, and measure sales, bookings or sign-ups, not only views. Compare cost per sale across creators, and keep working with the ones whose audiences actually buy. Our influencer marketing campaigns report results by creator, so the next campaign starts from evidence.