TIHAMA ADVERTISING & PUBLIC RELATIONS CO

What TIHAMA ADVERTISING & PUBLIC RELATIONS CO does

Tihama Advertising, Public Relations and Marketing Co. (شركة تهامة للإعلان والعلاقات العامة والتسويق) is a Saudi joint-stock company founded on May 14, 1974 as a limited liability company and reincorporated as a public joint-stock entity on April 13, 1983 under Ministry of Commerce Resolution No. 1397. Headquartered in Al-Sabab Building on King Fahd Road, Riyadh, the company is listed on the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) under ticker 4070 and reports registered capital of SAR 50 million with a workforce of 200+ employees. It is positioned as the first Saudi company specialized in advertising, marketing, and public relations. The core technology underlying its education business is the Amerah (أميرة) AI-powered reading assistant, which evaluates oral reading fluency, screens for dyslexia, and delivers personalized lessons deployed through the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt curriculum stack.

Tihama operates across four business segments: (1) Advertising — outdoor billboard networks across Saudi cities and intercity highways, its founding business; (2) Education — exclusive distribution of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt curricula to approximately 200 schools in Saudi Arabia, including digital resources, professional development, and the Amerah AI tool; (3) Retail — exclusive WHSmith franchise operating bookstores and convenience retail in airports, hospitals, railway stations, seaports and highway service stations; and (4) Production — film and video content production aligned with Saudi Vision 2030 and the cinema revival. Channel partners include WPP's full agency portfolio (Ogilvy, Wunderman Thompson, Mindshare, MediaCom, Grey, H+K, VML, Mirum) under a partnership dating to 1980. Revenue mechanics combine advertising sales (billboard inventory), education distribution and digital platform fees, retail franchise retail margins, and project-based production revenue. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and operates across multiple segment-specific structures.

The company is currently operating but is in a governance disruption: Tadawul halted trading on July 1, 2026 after the board failed to approve the FY2026 (year ended March 31, 2026) financial statements by the regulatory deadline due to the absence of a required majority vote. Chairman Hatem Bargash resigned the same day for personal reasons (remaining on the board) and was succeeded by Fahd Al-Khunainy; subsequently shareholders rejected the dismissal of board member Saleh Al-Rasheed on July 22 and approved Abdullah Al-Muneef as an independent director effective January 26, 2027 to serve through November 26, 2027.

Name

TIHAMA ADVERTISING & PUBLIC RELATIONS CO

Legal name

شركة تهامه للاعلان والعلاقات العامه والتسويق

Website

https://tihama.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Tihama is a publicly listed Saudi joint-stock advertising and media holding company (Tadawul: 4070) operating four business segments — outdoor advertising, exclusive Houghton Mifflin Harcourt education distribution to ~200 schools, a WHSmith retail franchise, and film production — anchored by long-standing partnerships with WPP and global content brands.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Advertising and Media Services

NAICS

Advertising Agencies (541810)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) Advertising (MPAAAKAB)

Keywords

• Outdoor advertising
• Billboard networks
• Education publishing
• Retail book franchise
• Production services

Headquarters

HQ city

Riyadh

HQ country

Saudi Arabia

HQ region

Middle East

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Advertising & Billboard Networks: Road advertising through a network of billboards spread across Saudi Arabian cities, highways, and intercity roads. The company maintains its position as a leading commercial advertising sector player.
2. Education Publishing & Curriculum Distribution: Distribution of international curricula and textbooks to schools in Saudi Arabia through exclusive partnership with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Includes digital resources, professional development, and AI-powered educational tools.
3. Retail Operations: Retail stores offering books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, entertainment products, and confectionery through WHSmith franchise locations in airports, hospitals, highway service stations, and other high-traffic venues.
4. Production Services: Art production and storytelling services through partnerships with leading advertising agencies and clients across various industries in the region.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Tihama is a Saudi media holding company operating four business segments: (1) outdoor advertising through a network of billboards across Saudi cities and highways, (2) education distribution of international curricula and AI-powered learning tools in partnership with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to approximately 200 schools, (3) retail operations through an exclusive WHSmith franchise in airports, hospitals and transit hubs, and (4) film and video production services for advertising clients. The company serves as the Saudi regional partner of WPP's global agency network for integrated marketing communications.

Product overview

Tihama Advertising, Public Relations and Marketing Co. is a Saudi joint-stock advertising and media holding company established in 1974 with SAR 50 million capital and 200+ employees. The company operates through four distinct business segments: (1) Advertising – outdoor billboard networks across Saudi cities and highways, its original core sector since founding; (2) Education – exclusive partnership with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for textbook distribution and the proprietary AI-powered reading assistant 'Amerah,' serving approximately 200 schools; (3) Retail – WHSmith franchise operations at airports, hospitals, and stations; and (4) Production – film and video content production. The company also maintains strategic partnerships with WPP and its subsidiary agencies (Ogilvy, Mindshare, Mediacom, Grey, H&K, GroupM, VMLR, Mirum) for integrated marketing communications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Amerah (أميرة): AI-powered reading assistant for classrooms that evaluates oral reading fluency, screens for dyslexia, and provides interactive private lessons to build reading and writing skills
• Tihama Strategy
• Tihama Disclosures

Products and services

• Tihama Outdoor Advertising (Billboard Network) Roadside and outdoor advertising through a network of billboards distributed across Saudi Arabian cities, highways, and strategic locations for commercial advertising clients.
• Tihama Education Distribution (HMH Partnership) Exclusive distribution of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt textbooks, digital resources, professional development, and AI-powered educational tools to approximately 200 schools across Saudi Arabia.
• Tihama Retail Operations (WHSmith Franchise) Retail stores offering books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, entertainment products, and confectionery through exclusive WHSmith franchise in high-traffic locations across Saudi Arabia.
• Tihama Production (Film & Video) Film and video production, creative content production, and storytelling services for advertising agencies and clients across various industries, aligned with Saudi Vision 2030.
• Amerah AI Reading Assistant AI-powered classroom assistant that evaluates oral reading fluency (ORF), screens for dyslexia, provides interactive private tutoring, builds reading and writing skills, and delivers customized educational content based on child interests and ability.

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• WPPflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1980WPP is the world's largest advertising and marketing communications company with revenues exceeding SAR 56 billion and 130,000+ employees globally. Tihama has been a regional and Saudi Arabia partner since 1980, distributing WPP's services including data management, marketing technology consulting, system integration, advertising, media investment, public relations, brand management, design, retail commerce, and experience services.
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHMH is a leading global publisher of textbooks, school curricula, educational technology materials, assessments, and literary and reference works established in 1832 with revenues exceeding SAR 5 billion. Tihama holds an exclusive strategic partnership as the exclusive distributor of HMH materials in Saudi Arabia, covering approximately 200 schools including partnerships with leading educational institutions.
• WHSmithcoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerWHSmith is a UK-based retail company established in 1792 with over 12,000 employees and annual revenues of approximately SAR 6 billion. Tihama is the exclusive WHSmith franchise partner in Saudi Arabia, operating retail stores in airports, hospitals, highway service stations, and other high-traffic locations selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, entertainment products, and confectionery.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Outfront Media: US-listed OOH media company operating billboards, transit and mobile billboards across North America; directly comparable as a billboard-led advertising business with similar revenue mix and exposure to format-shift versus digital channels.
• Ströer SE & Co. KGaA: German-based outdoor advertising and digital out-of-home operator with strong transit and roadside billboard inventory; directly comparable as a multi-channel OOH company increasingly migrating static billboards into digital formats, mirroring Tihama's OOH foundation.
• Lamar Advertising Company: Major US outdoor advertising operator with a network of billboards, digital displays and transit advertising; directly comparable as a large static-and-digital OOH pure-play with similar customer base and asset-intensive economics.
• JCDecaux: World's largest outdoor advertising company operating street furniture, billboards and transit advertising globally; directly comparable as a pure-play OOH operator with similar inventory-and-channel economics to Tihama's road and highway billboard network.

Broad incumbents

• Publicis Groupe: Global advertising holding company with creative, media, digital and PR operations across the Middle East; broadly comparable as a large multi-discipline ad holding group competing for the same regional client mandates Tihama targets.
• Dentsu Inc. Japanese global advertising holding company with creative, media and CXM operations across the Middle East; broadly comparable as an international ad-holding peer serving regional brand and government accounts through agency networks.
• Omnicom Group: Global advertising holding company with BBDO, DDB, TBWA and PHD networks active in the Middle East; broadly comparable as a multinational agency group serving similar enterprise advertisers via a network-of-agencies model.
• Interpublic Group: US-listed advertising holding company operating McCann, MullenLowe and IPG Mediabrands globally; broadly comparable as a large holding company with integrated media, creative and PR agencies targeting multinational clients in the MENA region.
• WPP plc: World's largest advertising holding company and Tihama's flagship partner since 1980, operating Ogilvy, Wunderman Thompson, MediaCom, Grey and others; broadly comparable as the parent advertising platform whose regional capabilities Tihama distributes in Saudi Arabia.

Emerging players

• Focus Media: Chinese digital and out-of-home advertising operator with large elevator-screen and digital-display networks; comparable as an emerging OOH/DOOH operator in an Asian market, illustrating the digital-OOH transition still ahead for Tihama's static-billboard base.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/tihama_sa

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about TIHAMA ADVERTISING & PUBLIC RELATIONS CO