The world has entered another phase of digital expansion. As of October 2025, more than six billion people are now online, representing about 73 percent of the global population. Updated figures from the International Telecommunication Union and national agencies compiled by Datareportal[1] show particularly steep rises in India and China, where revised data pushed global totals to new highs.
India’s connectivity has passed the one-billion-user mark for the first time, while China’s 1.3 billion internet users now account for roughly one in five people online worldwide. Together, the two countries represent nearly half of all new internet connections added during the past year.
Mobile and Gender Divide
Mobile devices remain the primary gateway to the web, with 5.78 billion unique mobile users recorded in 2025, equal to 70 percent of the planet’s population. Smartphones make up almost 87 percent of all handsets in use. Despite these advances, access is uneven. Women and rural communities still face significant barriers, and cost continues to limit adoption in many regions of Africa and South Asia. Rural internet use remains below 55 percent, compared with 86 percent in urban areas.
Social Media Becomes the New Normal
The report identifies a clear turning point in global communication. Social media now counts 5.66 billion active user identities… equivalent to nearly 69 percent of everyone on Earth. This “supermajority” means that two people are now on social networks for every one who is not. Roughly 259 million new accounts were added in the past year, sustaining a growth rate close to 5 percent.
Younger adults continue to dominate engagement. Women aged 16 to 24 spend an average of 3 hours and 40 minutes each day on social and video platforms. Across all users, average daily time on these apps exceeds two and a half hours, or about 16 percent of waking life.
Platforms Compete for Attention
YouTube remains the most-used social platform worldwide, holding the largest active app audience and capturing almost 50 percent more monthly users than TikTok. Yet TikTok users dedicate the longest individual sessions, averaging 97 minutes per day on Android devices. Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp follow closely, while Telegram and Snapchat maintain regional strongholds.
People now use an average of 6.75 different social platforms every month, a figure that highlights just how fragmented audience attention has become.
Shifts in Brand Discovery
For marketers, the centre of discovery has moved online. Among people aged 16 to 34, social media advertising has overtaken both television and search as the main channel for finding new products. Roughly one third of these younger users cite social ads as their first point of contact with a brand. Search engines still lead among older age groups, but generational patterns show a steady move toward social-first exposure.
Generative AI Passes 1 Billion Users
Artificial intelligence now forms a defining layer of digital life. The report estimates that more than one billion people use standalone AI tools each month. ChatGPT alone accounts for roughly 800 million weekly users, and when other LLM-based services and Chinese AI agents are added, global adoption comfortably exceeds the billion mark.
This wave of use is changing how people gather information. Conventional search traffic has fallen to about 80 percent of online adults, the lowest rate recorded in GWI’s tracking, as more users turn to AI assistants for quick summaries and recommendations.
Digital Advertising Nears $1.2 Trillion
Advertising follows where attention goes. Worldwide ad expenditure is projected to reach US $1.16 trillion in 2025, up 6.5 percent year on year. Nearly three-quarters of that spend (74 percent) now flows to digital channels.
Streaming Dominates Viewing Time
Television habits continue to evolve. Streaming services now account for just over half of all global TV watch time (50.4 percent). In the United States, that share climbs to nearly 60 percent, led by YouTube, which alone claims 13 percent of all U.S. TV viewing time. Connected TV formats reach more than four in ten YouTube users worldwide, reshaping both audience behaviour and advertising strategies.
Looking Ahead to 2026
The Digital 2026 report frames the coming year as one defined by fragmentation and choice rather than novelty. It suggests that digital growth will keep broadening, but success for brands will depend less on chasing the newest platform and more on maintaining cultural relevance across those people already online.
Notes: This post was edited/created using GenAI tools.
Read next: Claude’s Small Crowd Is Paying Big, and That’s Changing the AI Race[2]
References
- ^ Datareportal (datareportal.com)
- ^ Claude’s Small Crowd Is Paying Big, and That’s Changing the AI Race (www.digitalinformationworld.com)