ADNOC Distribution Launches Engage Retail Media Network Across the UAE
By Thasmiya
ADNOC Distribution has launched **Engage by ADNOC**, a new retail media network designed to help brands reach customers across its physical service stations, digital platforms and loyalty ecosystem.
The platform combines in-station advertising, app-based placements, off-site digital campaigns and customer insights from ADNOC Rewards. ADNOC Distribution is positioning Engage as one of the UAE’s largest mobility and convenience retail media networks.
**What is Engage by ADNOC?**
Engage is a full-funnel retail media network that connects advertisers with customers throughout their journey, from digital discovery before visiting a station to messages displayed while refuelling, shopping or using other services.
The network brings together:
- Digital screens at service stations - Advertising within ADNOC’s app and digital channels - Screens and promotional placements inside retail outlets - Off-site advertising through external digital platforms - Customer and transaction insights - Campaign measurement linked to purchasing activity
The aim is to give brands a more targeted and measurable alternative to traditional mass advertising.
**How large is the network?**
ADNOC Distribution operates more than **590 service stations across the UAE**, providing Engage with a broad physical footprint across cities, highways and residential communities.
The company says close to **700,000 customers visit its stations daily**, while its network processes more than **250 million transactions annually**. These figures give advertisers access to consumers during regular activities such as refuelling, buying coffee, visiting convenience stores or charging electric vehicles.
ADNOC Distribution also accounts for approximately two out of every three fuel transactions in the UAE, according to company disclosures.
**ADNOC Rewards data supports targeted advertising**
Engage is supported by first-party insights from ADNOC Rewards, the company’s mobility and convenience loyalty programme.
The programme had expanded to more than **2.69 million members by the end of the first quarter of 2026**, representing annual growth of 14.2%.
Rather than showing the same campaign to every customer, the network is designed to help advertisers reach selected audience groups based on relevant and permitted customer insights.
This could allow campaigns to be tailored around factors such as shopping patterns, preferred services, customer interests and previous interactions with the ADNOC Distribution ecosystem.
**What does “full-funnel retail media” mean?**
Full-funnel retail media allows a brand to communicate with customers across multiple stages of the purchasing journey.
A customer could first encounter a campaign through:
- A social media advertisement - A mobile-app placement - A digital message before leaving home
The same customer could later see a related advertisement on a screen while refuelling or inside an Oasis by ADNOC convenience store.
Purchase data can then help assess whether people exposed to the campaign later bought the advertised product. This approach is often described as closed-loop measurement because it connects media exposure with customer action.
**Where could customers see Engage advertising?**
Advertising could appear across a mixture of physical and digital touchpoints, including:
- Fuel-pump screens - Digital displays at service stations - Oasis by ADNOC stores - The ADNOC Distribution app - ADNOC Rewards communications - Social media and external digital platforms - Food, beverage and car-care locations within the network
The availability of particular placements may depend on the advertiser, campaign type, station and location.
**How is Engage different from conventional outdoor advertising?**
Traditional outdoor advertising generally measures reach using estimated traffic, location and audience data.
Engage is intended to add another level of measurement by combining media placements with first-party customer and transaction insights.
For example, a beverage company advertising inside an ADNOC station could potentially measure:
- How many customers were exposed to the campaign - Which audience groups were reached - Whether advertised products were purchased - How sales changed during the campaign - Whether customers returned to make another purchase
This gives marketers a clearer way to evaluate the commercial effect of their advertising spending.
**Why ADNOC Distribution is moving into advertising**
The launch forms part of ADNOC Distribution’s wider transformation from a conventional fuel retailer into a mobility and convenience business.
Its service stations increasingly include:
- Convenience stores - Restaurants and cafés - Electric-vehicle charging - Car washing and maintenance - Vehicle inspection - Lifestyle and community services - Loyalty and digital-payment solutions
As customers use more services and spend longer at each location, the network creates additional opportunities for brands to communicate with them.
ADNOC Distribution sees retail media as a new non-fuel revenue stream that can make greater use of its physical locations, digital platforms and customer insights.
**Engage could generate AED 36.7 million in five years**
In its 2025 integrated report, ADNOC Distribution said the retail media network could generate up to **AED 36.7 million in cumulative EBITDA over five years**.
The company described the initiative as a scalable new revenue source that could turn customer dwell time at service stations into incremental profit.
The estimate remains a company projection rather than guaranteed revenue and will depend on advertiser demand, campaign adoption and the network’s ability to demonstrate measurable results.
**Retail media is growing across the GCC**
Retail media has become an increasingly important part of the global advertising sector as retailers use their digital channels, customer insights and physical stores to offer advertising services.
The approach has gained attention as marketers face:
- Reduced access to third-party tracking data - Greater privacy requirements - Fragmented audiences across multiple platforms - Pressure to demonstrate return on advertising spending - Rising demand for personalised communication
Retailers can offer advertisers access to first-party data generated through direct relationships with customers, subject to applicable privacy and data-governance requirements.
**What kinds of brands could use Engage?**
The network could appeal to businesses across a wide range of sectors, particularly those whose products or services are relevant to motorists and convenience shoppers.
Potential advertisers may include:
- Food and beverage companies - Automotive brands - Banks and financial services - Telecom operators - Insurance providers - Travel businesses - Consumer electronics companies - Restaurants and delivery platforms - Real-estate developers - Health and lifestyle brands
Companies whose products are already sold through Oasis by ADNOC may gain an additional opportunity to combine advertising with in-store sales activity.
**Will advertising become personalised?**
ADNOC Distribution says the network is intended to make advertising more relevant by helping brands reach suitable customers at appropriate moments.
The company’s chief marketing officer, Jacqueline Elboghdadi, said relevance is important because customers are less likely to respond positively to messages that feel unrelated or repetitive.
Personalisation does not necessarily mean that every advertisement will identify an individual customer. Campaigns may instead target broader groups with similar interests or purchasing patterns.
The handling of customer information will remain subject to applicable data-protection, consent and privacy requirements.
**How will campaign performance be measured?**
Engage is designed to provide advertisers with closed-loop measurement.
Depending on the campaign, brands may be able to review metrics such as:
- Advertising reach - Customer engagement - Store visits - Product purchases - Sales uplift - Repeat transactions - Conversion rates - Return on advertising spending
The ability to connect advertising exposure with purchases is one of the main features distinguishing retail media from conventional display advertising.
**The network supports ADNOC’s non-fuel retail strategy**
Non-fuel retail has become an increasingly important growth area for ADNOC Distribution.
The company reported a **10% year-on-year increase in non-fuel retail gross profit during the first quarter of 2026**, supported by higher customer footfall, convenience-store activity and property management.
ADNOC Distribution is targeting a doubling of non-fuel retail transactions by 2030 compared with 2023 levels. Engage could contribute to that strategy by creating advertising income while also promoting sales across stores and partner businesses.
**What happens next?**
The company’s immediate priority is to scale the Engage network across the UAE and expand advertising partnerships.
ADNOC Distribution has also indicated that it may explore opportunities across its wider international business after developing the UAE platform.
Any international expansion would depend on local customer ecosystems, regulatory requirements and the company’s presence in those markets.
**Why this matters**
Engage marks a significant change in how service stations can operate as commercial spaces.
Rather than functioning only as places to purchase fuel, ADNOC Distribution’s locations are becoming connected retail environments that combine mobility, shopping, food, digital services and advertising.
For brands, the platform offers access to a large daily audience and the possibility of measuring whether advertising leads to purchases. For ADNOC Distribution, it creates a new source of non-fuel revenue while strengthening its digital and convenience-retail strategy.
For customers, the most visible change may be more advertising across station screens, apps and retail locations, with messages increasingly shaped around relevant products and services.
**FAQs**
**What is Engage by ADNOC?**
Engage is ADNOC Distribution’s retail media network, combining physical advertising at service stations with app placements, digital campaigns, customer insights and transaction-based measurement.
**Is Engage available across the UAE?**
The network is being launched and scaled across ADNOC Distribution’s UAE service-station and digital ecosystem.
**How many people could Engage reach?**
ADNOC Distribution serves close to 700,000 station customers daily and processes more than 250 million transactions each year.
**How many ADNOC Rewards members are there?**
ADNOC Rewards had more than 2.69 million members at the end of the first quarter of 2026.
**Where will Engage advertisements appear?**
Campaigns may appear on station screens, inside Oasis by ADNOC stores, through the company’s app, in loyalty communications and across external digital platforms.
**What is closed-loop advertising measurement?**
It is a system that connects exposure to an advertisement with later customer actions, such as visiting a store or purchasing the promoted product.
**Will Engage use customer information?**
The platform uses first-party customer and transaction insights to support targeting and campaign measurement. The use of personal data remains subject to applicable privacy, consent and data-protection rules.
**How much could Engage generate for ADNOC Distribution?**
The company has projected that its retail media network could deliver up to AED 36.7 million in cumulative EBITDA over five years. This is a forward-looking estimate rather than guaranteed income.
**Source Credits**
Information source and resource owners: ADNOC Distribution, ADNOC Distribution Integrated Annual Report 2025 and Communicate Online.
**Image Credits**
Image sources are combined from AI-generated visuals and other platforms. If any owner wants to be mentioned or any content needs to be changed, please email us at **concerns@whatmatters.ae**.