What’s On/Influencer
YouTube makes brand deals easier in the UAE. Here is how to use it
YouTube's Creator Partnerships, its built-in way to find creators and run sponsored videos as ads, now covers the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and a new Ask Studio feature will help creators reply to brand briefs. What brands should know.
Finding the right YouTube creator has usually meant spreadsheets, agencies and a lot of guesswork. YouTube's own answer is Creator Partnerships, a tool that lets brands discover creators open to paid work and then run their sponsored videos as ads. Its help page now lists both the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Creators qualify if they are 18 or over, in the YouTube Partner Program and free of active Community Guidelines strikes.
The timeline
YouTube said at Brandcast on 7 November 2025 that it would launch a Creator Partnerships hub and open call across the Middle East and North Africa in 2026. At its Made on YouTube event on 23 September 2026, it said the tool was live in 20 countries, and regional trade press confirmed on 1 October that the UAE and Saudi Arabia are among them.
Ask Studio and briefs
Ask Studio, the AI assistant inside YouTube Studio, will soon help creators write tailored replies to brand briefs and adapt their media kits, YouTube says. One regional report suggests early 2027. YouTube also announced incentives worth hundreds of millions of dollars for agency partners, and said its Shopping affiliate programme now counts more than 1.3 million creators.
The audience
- YouTube reported reaching 7.5 million adults in the UAE and more than 20 million in Saudi Arabia as of September 2025.
- It also claimed 94 percent penetration in the UAE and said 54 percent of UAE Shorts viewers do not use Instagram Reels. These are YouTube's own numbers.
Families and younger viewers
Since 2 July 2026, YouTube has offered supervised accounts for children across the region, with three content levels, a Shorts timer, no autoplay and no personalised ads. It comes as the UAE prepares to bar under-15s from personal social media accounts from mid-2027.
Tips for brands
- Treat the tool as a shortlist, then check each creator's audience, past content and fit yourself.
- Confirm eligibility first. Creators outside the Partner Program, or with strikes, will not appear.
- Write specific briefs. If AI makes replies easier, the creators worth hiring will be the ones with real ideas for your brand.
- Ask every UAE creator for their Advertiser Permit before you sign.
- Plan to run strong creator videos as ads to reach beyond the creator's subscribers.
Thinking about YouTube creators for your next campaign? ALXO can find the right people and shape the content with them. Get in touch.
