Middle East Markets Social Media Benchmarks: Auto Q2 2026

What’s in this report

In Q2 2026, Auto brands in the Middle East Markets saw median Instagram engagement rates of around 2.85%, well ahead of Facebook at roughly 1.85%. Retail led interaction share on both platforms among all brand categories, with Auto ranking 7th on both Facebook and Instagram. Live Video and Reels/Carousels remained the standout organic post formats on Facebook and Instagram respectively.

This quarterly benchmarks report pulls from Emplifi’s dataset of 239 Facebook pages and 223 Instagram profiles across Middle East Markets, covering April 1, 2026 through June 30, 2026.

User-generated content: what’s achievable

Brands using Emplifi’s UGC solution this quarter saw:

• 19.88x increase in conversion rate
• 5.06x increase in website visits
• 1.08x increase in average order value

These figures represent the median uplift seen across Emplifi’s Brands UGC Accounts Benchmark for Q2 2026.

Organic performance: Facebook and Instagram

Interaction share by industry

On Facebook, Retail accounts for 20.8% of total brand interactions — the highest share of any category. On Instagram, Retail leads with 20.7% of interactions. Auto itself ranks 7th by total interactions on both platforms in the Middle East Markets, with a 4.4% share on Facebook and a 3.9% share on Instagram.

Facebook interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Instagram interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Platform landscape at a glance

In Middle East Markets, Instagram brand profiles carry a lower median follower count than Facebook pages. The figures below reflect relative values across all Auto profiles in the sample at the end of Q2 2026.

Activity volume on both platforms is roughly comparable, while user engagement on Instagram outpaces Facebook.

Median post interactions

Median post interactions track the middle-ranked page or profile by monthly interactions — a measure of typical performance rather than outlier peaks.

Instagram median post interactions declined from around 27 in mid-2025 to a low of roughly 19 in early 2026, before ticking back up to approximately 21 by June 2026. Facebook held in a narrower 5–10 range across the same period, dipping to around 5 in early 2026 before settling near 6.

Relative median post interactions

Relative median interactions index each platform’s performance against its own peak over the reporting period, making it easier to compare directional trends across platforms regardless of absolute scale.

By Q2 2026, Instagram’s relative median interactions sat at around 75% of its mid-2025 peak, while Facebook — after dropping to around 50% of peak in early 2026 — recovered to roughly 60% of its own peak by quarter’s end.

Median post impressions

Impressions measure how many times posts were displayed, regardless of interaction. This metric is available for both platforms and reflects reach rather than engagement.

Instagram impressions climbed sharply through mid-2025, peaking at around 7,600 in September before declining steadily to approximately 1,900 by June 2026. Facebook impressions stayed comparatively flat in the 3,500–4,000 range for most of the period before also drifting down toward roughly 2,100 by quarter’s end.

Engagement rate trends

Median post engagement rates this quarter:

• Instagram: ~2.85%
• Facebook: ~1.85%

Instagram engagement has held broadly steady in the 2.4%–3.0% range over the past year, while Facebook engagement has trended gradually upward, ending Q2 2026 near its highest point of the period.

Best-performing post types

Facebook: Live Video and standard Video continue to outperform other formats organically. In Q2 2026, Live Video generated a median of 128 post interactions, while standard Video reached approximately 1.

Instagram: Carousel and Reel posts lead organic performance. Carousels generated a median of 19 post interactions this quarter; Reels reached 32.

Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):

Post type distribution trends:

On Facebook, Photo remains the dominant post format at around 63% of posts, though Reels are gaining share steadily — rising from near zero earlier in the year to approximately 35% by Q2 2026. On Instagram, Reels, Images, and Carousels each account for roughly a third of posts published, with Reels and Carousels driving the majority of top-performing content.

Top performing pages and profiles

Facebook — top pages by total interactions (Q2 2026):

Instagram — top profiles by total interactions (Q2 2026):

Top posts this quarter

The highest-performing individual posts by interactions across Middle East Markets brands in Q2 2026:

Facebook:

Instagram:

How does your brand compare?

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Paid performance: Facebook and Instagram ads

Where brands are spending

The majority of paid spend for Middle East Markets Auto brands goes to FB feed, followed by FB facebook reels and IG instagram reels. Spending on FB feed is 20.15 percentage points higher than on FB facebook reels.

CPC and CPM by placement

The most cost-efficient placements for Middle East Markets brands this quarter:

• Lowest CPC: FB feed, FB facebook reels, and IG feed
• Lowest CPM: FB facebook reels, FB feed, and IG instagram reels

CPC and CPM by placement (Q2 2026):

Click-through rate by placement

Within the Middle East Markets brands benchmark, FB feed leads on CTR at 1.58%, compared to FB facebook reels at 1.02%.

CTR by placement (Q2 2026):

Cost trends over time

Q2 2026 ad cost benchmarks for Middle East Markets:

Auto-specific CPC climbed from around $0.30 in mid-2025 to a peak near $0.44 around the turn of the year, dropped sharply to about $0.23 in early 2026, then recovered to roughly $0.32 by Q2 2026 — consistently well above the region-wide CPC, which held flat in the $0.08–$0.10 range throughout. CPM followed a similar arc for Auto, peaking near $3.45 before settling around $2.80, versus a flat $0.65–$0.85 region-wide. CTR was the one metric where the two converged: Auto CTR ended Q2 2026 at about 1.05%, just above the region-wide figure of roughly 1.02%.