Middle East Markets Social Media Benchmarks: Entertainment Q2 2026

What’s in this report

In Q2 2026, Entertainment brands in Middle East Markets saw median post engagement rates on Instagram of around 2.7%, while Facebook trailed at under 1%. Retail led interaction share across both platforms regionally (Entertainment itself falls outside the top categories), and Carousel and Reel remained the top-performing organic formats on Instagram, while Live Video led on Facebook.

This quarterly benchmarks report pulls from Emplifi’s dataset of 183 Facebook pages and 337 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:

• 18.95x increase in conversion rate
• 4.97x 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. (Note: this deck’s UGC slide was captioned “Global UGC Accounts Benchmark” rather than an Entertainment-specific slide, so these are the global benchmark figures reported for this file rather than an Entertainment-only breakout.)

Organic performance: Facebook and Instagram

Interaction share by industry

On Facebook, Retail accounts for 20.8% of total brand interactions in Middle East Markets — the highest share of any category. On Instagram, Retail leads with 20.7% of interactions. Entertainment does not rank among the top categories on either platform in Middle East Markets and falls within the “Others” grouping.

Facebook interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Instagram interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Platform landscape at a glance

In Middle East Markets, Instagram brand profiles carry a higher median follower count than Facebook pages. The source chart for this comparison (a bubble/circle chart) does not publish exact figures — only relative sizing — so the table below uses directional comparisons rather than invented numbers.

Activity volume on both platforms is higher on Facebook, 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 dipped to a low of around 129 in November 2025 before recovering, ending Q2 2026 at approximately 163. Facebook held consistently low and flat across the full period, never exceeding roughly 8 interactions.

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, Facebook’s relative median interactions had dropped to around 72% of its peak after touching 100% in May 2026, while Instagram ended the period at around 88% of its own peak.

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 peaked at around 9,500 in September 2025 before declining and stabilizing in the 4,000–5,000 range for most of 2026. Facebook impressions trended gradually downward from around 4,500 in mid-2025 to roughly 2,600 by Q2 2026.

Engagement rate trends

Median post engagement rates this quarter:

• Instagram: ~2.7%
• Facebook: ~0.9%

Instagram engagement has held broadly steady across the past year, fluctuating between roughly 2.3% and 3.2%, while Facebook engagement has stayed consistently low, moving in a narrow band between about 0.6% and 0.9%.

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 102 post interactions, while standard Video reached roughly 1.

Instagram: Carousel and Reel posts lead organic performance. Carousels generated a median of 297 post interactions this quarter; Reels reached 251.

Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):

Post type distribution trends:

On Facebook, Photo remains a leading post format at around 44% of posts, though Reels have grown steadily — rising from near zero in mid-2025 to approximately 48% by Q2 2026, effectively overtaking Photo by quarter end. 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 brands goes to FB feed, followed by IG instagram reels and IG feed. Spending on FB feed is 6.47 percentage points higher than on IG instagram 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 instagram stories
• Lowest CPM: FB feed, IG instagram reels, and FB facebook reels

CPC and CPM by placement (Q2 2026):

Click-through rate by placement

Within the Entertainment brands benchmark, FB feed leads on CTR at 2.3%, compared to FB facebook reels at 1.15%.

CTR by placement (Q2 2026):

Cost trends over time

Q2 2026 ad cost benchmarks for Middle East Markets:

Note on this table: the deck’s cost-trend charts (Cost per Click, Cost per Mille, and Click Through Rate over time) were labeled with a single series called “Asia” rather than separate Entertainment and Middle East Markets series — this appears to be a mislabeling carried over from another region’s deck, and Entertainment does clear the 200-active-ad-account threshold for its own placement-level breakout (seen elsewhere in this report), so a true industry-vs-region split should exist but isn’t available in these specific trend charts. The figures above reflect the single trend line as delivered in the source file for both columns, and should be treated as directional rather than a verified brands-vs-region split. CPC held in a tight band around $0.08–$0.10 across the year with a brief dip to $0.078 in December 2025 and a spike to nearly $0.10 in March 2026, ending Q2 2026 at roughly $0.084. CPM moved in the $0.65–$0.85 range throughout, ending the period at about $0.86 — its highest point in the series. CTR trended gradually upward across the year, ending Q2 2026 at approximately 1.03%, up from around 0.85% a year earlier.