How to Get Press in the UAE
The UAE has its own media market with its own rules. Here is which titles matter, who reads them, and how coverage works in the Gulf.
The Emirates is one of the few markets where foreign businesses consistently buy the wrong coverage. The titles are unfamiliar, the names sound interchangeable, and the differences between them are larger than they look.
The market in one paragraph
The UAE has a concentrated English-language media market serving a population that is largely expatriate and unusually well connected commercially. A small number of titles reach most of the people who matter, which makes it easier to get right than a market like the US, provided you know which title does what.
Business, consumer, luxury
Three different jobs, and they are not interchangeable.
Business titles reach executives, investors and the people advising them. If you sell to companies, or you are raising, this is where the reader is.
Consumer dailies reach the resident population broadly, which includes the professional communities that make up much of the country. If you sell to people rather than businesses, this is a better fit than a C-suite title, regardless of which name sounds more impressive.
Luxury and lifestyle titles place you in a category. For fashion, beauty, hospitality and design, that positioning does something a business feature cannot.
Pick the reader before the masthead
This is the whole decision. A fintech company selling into Saudi and the Emirates does not benefit from a fashion title. A skincare brand does not benefit from a C-suite business publication. The recognisable name is the wrong starting point; the buyer is the right one.
The second question is whether you have a regional story at all. Coverage in the Gulf works when there is something local in it: an entry into the market, a partnership, a genuine view on the region. A piece that could have run anywhere reads like one.
What you can and cannot buy
Every substantial title in the region runs its own journalism, and a journalist deciding to cover you is earned. That cannot be sold, and a guarantee attached to it is a warning rather than an offer.
A written feature produced to your brief, approved by you and published on the title is a different product. It is real and it is paid.
In this region specifically, it is worth asking a second question as well: how the piece will appear on the page. Supply chains in Gulf media often run through partners, and a provider who can tell you exactly what you are getting is worth more than one who cannot.
Getting started
Publisive places clients across the UAE business, consumer and luxury press. We will tell you which title fits the audience you are actually selling to, write the piece to your brief, and be clear about what the placement is before you commit.
We write and place features in the publications our clients choose. About us
Frequently asked questions
01Which UAE publication should I target?
Start from the buyer, not the masthead. Business titles reach executives and investors, consumer dailies reach the resident population broadly, and luxury titles place you in a category. The most recognisable name is the wrong starting point.
02Do I need a regional angle for UAE press?
Effectively yes. Coverage in the Gulf works when there is something local in it: a market entry, a partnership, or a genuine view on the region. Without that, the piece reads as one that could have run anywhere.
03What should I ask a provider about Gulf coverage?
Which route you are buying, earned or secured, and how the piece will appear on the page. Supply chains in Gulf media often run through partners, so precision from a provider is worth a great deal here.
