Market Research Companies in Riyadh

Key figures for researchers

City of Riyadh

about 7 million of the region’s 8.6 million residents (2022 census)²

Saudis / non-Saudis

3.35 million / 3.66 million residents of the city (2022 census)³

Young Saudis

62% of Saudi nationals in Riyadh are under 30, and 42% under 20³

Riyadh region

8,591,748 residents (2022 census)¹

Region: Saudis / non-Saudis

4.44 million / 4.15 million (2022 census)⁴

Region: men / women

62.6% / 37.4% of residents (2022 census)¹

Weekend

Friday and Saturday (since 29 June 2013)⁵

Riyadh Season 2026

opens on 21 October 2026 for about ten weeks⁶

Midday outdoor work ban

12 pm to 3 pm, 15 June to 15 September⁸

Ramadan 2027

expected to start around 8 February, with Eid al-Fitr around 9–10 March¹⁰

Research guide

Research landscape

Riyadh is the main base for market research in Saudi Arabia: local full-service agencies, qualitative and B2B specialists, fieldwork and recruitment companies, and regional offices of international networks, many of which also cover the wider Gulf. As the capital, it is also the main location for government, institutional and B2B research, with ministries, large companies and business districts such as KAFD.

The city is also a major travel hub: King Khalid International Airport handled a record 3.9 million passengers on 26,000 flights in July 2025.

Who you will interview

The city of Riyadh had about 7 million residents at the 2022 census, out of 8.6 million in the Riyadh region, which has 22 governorates. Expatriates slightly outnumber Saudis in the city: 3.66 million non-Saudis against 3.35 million Saudi nationals. Saudi residents are young: 62% of them are under 30 and 42% under 20.

The population is male-majority (62.6% men and 37.4% women in the region in 2022), and the expatriate population is mostly men aged 25 to 40. A sample without quotas will be dominated by expatriate men: decide early whether the target is all residents or Saudi nationals only, and set quotas by nationality group, gender, age and district. Arabic is the base for Saudis, with English and other languages for some expatriate groups (see the Saudi Arabia guide).

Fieldwork in practice

Riyadh is a very large city and distances between districts are long. Sampling by district and assigning interviewers to nearby areas helps control the spread of interviews and travel times. The Riyadh Metro opened its first three lines in December 2024 and passed 100 million riders in less than nine months, which can help with central locations.

Online and telephone (CATI) work well for most targets, including B2B and young Saudis. Face-to-face and mall intercepts help for lower-income expatriate workers and some language groups. In summer, outdoor work is banned from 12 pm to 3 pm between 15 June and 15 September, so outdoor intercepts move to the morning or evening. The weekend is Friday and Saturday: B2B interviews are usually scheduled from Sunday to Thursday.

Focus groups and qualitative research

In-person focus groups are usually held in viewing facilities or hotel meeting rooms. Groups are commonly organised separately for men and women, with moderators of the same gender, and often split by nationality group. Mixed groups are also being tested: in a 2022 study by the National Center for Social Studies in Riyadh, men and women were both happy in mixed groups but spoke more freely in single-gender groups, and in mixed groups they sat on separate sides. Discuss the right set-up with the agency for your topic and target.

Ask for incentive levels and recruitment lead times by target. Senior government and B2B respondents often prefer short online or telephone interviews, and online communities and video interviews are used alongside in-person groups.

Timing

Riyadh Season, the city’s entertainment season, opens on 21 October 2026 with a programme of about ten weeks of sporting events, concerts and shows, in zones such as Boulevard World and Boulevard City. It brings visitors from Saudi Arabia and abroad: screen out visitors when the target is Riyadh residents, and expect entertainment, retail and hospitality respondents to be busier.

Ramadan is expected to start around 8 February 2027, with Eid al-Fitr around 9–10 March and Eid al-Adha around 16–17 May (exact dates depend on the moon sighting): routines change, working hours are shorter and fieldwork moves to the evening. Summer is very hot and many families travel during the school holidays, so September to May is usually the easier period for fieldwork.

Working with a Riyadh agency

• Share a clear brief: objectives, target, sample size, city or region, districts, Saudi/expatriate quotas, gender split, method, languages and deadline.
• Ask who does the fieldwork: own interviewers or subcontractors, which languages they cover and whether female interviewers and moderators are available.
• Ask how Saudi nationals, women and lower-income workers will be recruited, and how nationality quotas and residence are verified.
• Ask whether the agency holds the GASTAT licence where required and how it applies the PDPL (see the Saudi Arabia guide).
• For focus groups, ask for the venue, viewing and streaming options, gender set-up, moderator languages and incentive levels.
• Compare several proposals: you can send one request to up to 5 Riyadh companies from this page.

National rules (data protection, holidays, sampling across regions) are covered in our guide to market research in Saudi Arabia.