The most common question we get on a first call is some version of the same one. How much should we be spending on content. The honest answer is not a single figure. It is a shape. Once you understand the shape, the number falls out of it. Here is that shape, applied to how the market moves in Dubai in 2026.

Content is now three costs, not one

A decade ago, content meant a shoot. One line item. In 2026 a real content operation has three distinct costs that stack: strategy and planning, production, and always on publishing. Underinvesting any one of them cracks the whole system. Most brands cut planning first and then wonder why the output feels random.

The floor for a serious monthly system

For a brand in Dubai that wants to be visibly present across Instagram and TikTok with weekly video, monthly photography, and daily community management, the honest monthly floor sits around AED 25,000 to 35,000. That includes strategy, one production day, edit, publish, and community. Below that number, corners get cut and it shows in the feed within a month.

Where a healthy retainer usually lands

The range most of our F&B, retail, and property clients actually run at is AED 40,000 to 70,000 per month. That covers a fuller pillar mix: multi format video, still photography, Reels, community, monthly reporting, and a small campaign quarterly. It is the range where a brand feels alive without heroic effort every month.

Above that: campaign layers and paid production

Big brands running always on plus quarterly campaigns and large event coverage sit at AED 90,000 and up. At that level content becomes an integrated operation with dedicated account leads, standing production capacity, and full performance coverage on paid channels. This is where in house teams and agencies effectively merge.

Where the money actually goes

A useful rule of thumb: about 20 percent of the retainer goes to strategy and planning, 45 percent to production (crew, gear, edit, motion, photography), 25 percent to always on execution (posting, captions, community management), and 10 percent to reporting and account management. If an agency spends 5 percent on strategy and 60 percent on production, you get pretty content that goes nowhere. If they flip that, you get decks that never ship.

What breaks below the floor

There is a hard floor below which any content spend is money set on fire. If a brand tries to do serious social presence in Dubai for less than about AED 15,000 per month, the maths does not work. The venue owner tries to shoot on a phone, community management gets shifted to the intern, and the calendar dies inside eight weeks. Better to spend nothing until the budget clears the floor than to spend badly.

The right question is not what content costs. It is what a month of visible presence in your category is worth to your business. Work back from that number and the budget usually settles itself.