Consumer Insights
Ramadan Consumer Trends in Iraq 2026: What 575 Baghdadis Told Us
New data from 575 Baghdad residents on how Iraqi consumers spend, eat, and watch during Ramadan. The first consumer behavior study of its kind in Iraq
If you're running a Ramadan campaign in Iraq, you're probably working off gut feel. Maybe a media plan from last year. Maybe what worked in Saudi or Egypt and a hope that it translates.
There's no syndicated consumer panel in Iraq. No quarterly tracker. No baseline for Iraqi consumer behavior during Ramadan. So we built one.
Before Ramadan started, we surveyed 575 Baghdad residents through 46 Million, Iraq's first consumer research panel. We asked about daily routines, media consumption, food and eating patterns, and spending. Here's a taste of what came back — and what it means for your planning.
Everyone cooks at home. Everyone spends more.
77% of Baghdad eats home-cooked iftar. You'd assume that keeps costs down. It doesn't. 64% say family spending increases during Ramadan. The money goes to groceries, clothing, Eid prep, sweets, gifts. A home-cooked Ramadan table in Baghdad is not a cost-saving exercise. It's an elaborate production, and the grocery bill reflects it.
If you sell cooking staples, the window opens a week before Ramadan. If you sell clothing or gifts, the second half of the month is when wallets open. The full report breaks down exactly which categories spike and when.
The 10pm to 2am gap nobody's filling
41% of Baghdadis stay awake past suhoor. The city goes nocturnal. That creates a late-night attention window with real consumer engagement and almost no advertising competition. Most brands stop scheduling ads by 10pm. The audience doesn't stop watching until 3am.
If you run a delivery app, your push notification should go out at 11pm, not 7pm. If you buy TV spots, suhoor-adjacent inventory is underpriced for what it delivers. The report includes the full activity timeline so you can see exactly where the gaps are.
Your streaming plan is probably wrong
YouTube leads at 54% overall. But "overall" hides the story. Among 40+, Shahid is number one. Netflix skews young and male. Al-Manassa, a local Iraqi platform, reaches nearly one in four Baghdadis.
If you're buying media placements based on platform popularity alone, you're reaching the wrong people. A 45-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man are on completely different platforms. The report has the full age and gender breakdowns so you can plan accordingly.
This is three findings out of six.
The full report covers the other three: how men and women split their evenings, why age determines where people shop, and what it all means for your media plan.
