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Digital Marketing Statistics: 45 Verified Stats With Sources

Last reviewed . Every stat links to its original source. By Muhammed Abdul Kalam · How we verify

This is the anchor page for the hub: the big numbers behind where people spend time online, where ad money goes and how marketers plan budgets. Use it to size a channel before you commit to it, then go deeper on the topic pages.

Key stats

6.04 billion

More than 6 billion people now use the internet, with global internet penetration reaching 73.2 percent as of October 2025.

DataReportal / Kepios, 2025
$1 trillion

Global advertising spend is forecast to grow by 5.1 percent in 2026, surpassing 1 trillion US dollars for the first time on record.

Dentsu, 2026
68.7%

Digital advertising spend is forecast to grow 6.7 percent in 2026, representing 68.7 percent of total global investment.

Dentsu, 2026
14.1%

Retail media is the fastest growing digital channel in 2026 at 14.1 percent growth, followed by online video at 11.5 percent and social at 11.4 percent.

Dentsu, 2026
$294.6 billion

US digital advertising revenues rose 13.9 percent year-over-year in 2025, reaching a record $294.6 billion.

IAB / PwC, 2025
86.4%

86.4 percent of marketing teams use AI in at least a few marketing areas, with only 1.7 percent having no plans to use AI.

HubSpot, 2026
On this page
  1. Internet and device usage
  2. Digital ad spend
  3. Channel performance
  4. Marketing budgets and priorities
  5. Measurement and attribution
  6. Where these numbers come from
  7. FAQs

Internet and device usage

Digital ad spend

Channel performance

Short-form video earned the biggest ROI of all media formats in 2026 at 48.6 percent, according to HubSpot's survey of marketers.

Source: HubSpot, 2026 State of Marketing (2026)

Global

Organic social media content is leveraged by 40.3 percent of brands, followed closely by paid social media content at 39.4 percent.

Source: HubSpot, 2026 State of Marketing (2026)

Global

Instagram is the most leveraged social media platform by marketers in 2026, used by 70 percent of brands.

Source: HubSpot, 2026 Marketing Statistics (2026)

Global

Website, blog and SEO remains the number one ROI-generating channel for marketers in 2026, followed closely by paid social media with 26 percent.

Source: HubSpot, 2026 Marketing Statistics (2026)

Global

The top three ROI-driving content formats are all video-based: short-form video at 49 percent, long-form video at 29 percent, and live-streaming video at 25 percent.

Source: HubSpot, 2026 Marketing Statistics (2026)

Global

Marketing budgets and priorities

79.2 percent of marketing teams expect at least a slight increase in 2026 budgets over 2025, and 21.2 percent expect a significant increase.

Source: HubSpot, 2026 State of Marketing (2026)

Global

73 percent of marketing teams say their budget receives more scrutiny now than in the past.

Source: HubSpot, 2026 State of Marketing (2026)

Global

86.4 percent of marketing teams use AI in at least a few marketing areas, with only 1.7 percent having no plans to use AI.

Source: HubSpot, 2026 State of Marketing (2026)

Global

AI chatbots are the top planned marketing investment for 2026 at 37.7 percent of teams, ahead of paid social at 37.4 percent.

Source: HubSpot, 2026 State of Marketing (2026)

Global

Using AI to create personalized content is the top marketing trend in 2026, identified by 48.57 percent of surveyed marketers.

Source: HubSpot, 2026 State of Marketing (2026)

Global

56 percent of global marketers planned to increase their CTV and OTT spend in 2025, a rise of three percentage points year-over-year.

Source: Nielsen, 2025 Annual Marketing Report (2025)

Global

Almost two thirds, 65 percent, of global marketers say retail media networks will play a growing role in their media strategies in 2025.

Source: Nielsen, 2025 Annual Marketing Report (2025)

Global

83.5 percent of marketers say they are expected to produce more content due to AI, with 35.7 percent saying they are expected to produce much more.

Source: HubSpot, 2026 State of Marketing (2026)

Global

Measurement and attribution

Only 32 percent of global marketers measure their media spending holistically across both digital and traditional channels.

Source: Nielsen, 2025 Annual Marketing Report (2025)

Global

75 percent of marketers have adopted AI, yet the majority still use it to send one-way generic campaigns, according to Salesforce's Tenth Edition State of Marketing.

Source: Salesforce, State of Marketing Tenth Edition (2025)

Global

69 percent of marketers still struggle to respond promptly to customers and 84 percent confess to running generic campaigns, despite AI adoption.

Source: Salesforce, State of Marketing Tenth Edition (2025)

Global

81 percent of marketers say they would trust AI to respond to customers to help scale their efforts, but are held back by disjointed data.

Source: Salesforce, State of Marketing Tenth Edition (2025)

Global

83 percent of marketers say customers now expect two-way conversations, the ability to reply to a marketing message and get an actual response.

Source: Salesforce, State of Marketing Tenth Edition (2025)

Global

Marketing teams that have satisfactorily unified their customer data are 42 percent more likely to regularly respond to customers than those without unified data.

Source: Salesforce, State of Marketing Tenth Edition (2025)

Global

Nearly 56 percent of marketers say it is much easier to improve conversion rates now than it was ten years ago.

Source: HubSpot, 2026 Marketing Statistics (2026)

Global

Where these numbers come from

DataReportal

DataReportal / Ericsson

DataReportal / GSMA Intelligence

DataReportal / India NSO

DataReportal / Kepios

Dentsu

HubSpot

IAB / PwC

Nielsen

Salesforce

WARC

Digital Marketing statistics: FAQs

How large is the global digital advertising market?

Global advertising spend crossed $1 trillion in 2026, growing 5.1% year-over-year, with digital accounting for 68.7% of total spend, per Dentsu's 2026 Global Ad Spend Forecast. The US digital advertising market alone reached a record $294.6 billion in 2025, up 13.9% year-over-year, according to the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report.

Which digital advertising channels are growing fastest?

Retail media leads with 14.1% growth in 2026, followed by social advertising at 11.4% and online video at 11.5%, per Dentsu. In the US, digital video including CTV, social video and short-form video grew 25.4% in 2025, the strongest growth of any format, per the IAB. Programmatic now accounts for more than four fifths of all digital inventory, per Dentsu.

How widely has AI been adopted in marketing teams?

86.4% of marketing teams now use AI in at least a few areas, with only 1.7% not using it at all, per HubSpot 2026. The top planned AI investment for 2026 is chatbots, cited by 37.7% of teams, ahead of data analytics and personalisation tools. Using AI to create personalised content is the top marketing trend, identified by 48.57% of marketers.

What is the top ROI-generating channel for business marketers?

Website, blog and SEO consistently ranks number one for ROI among business marketers, per HubSpot 2026. Short-form video delivers the biggest ROI of any single media format for 48.6% of marketers, and the top three ROI-driving formats are all video-based. Budget outlook is broadly positive: 79.2% of marketing teams expect at least a slight budget increase in 2026, though 73% say scrutiny has increased.

How many people are online and using social media globally?

More than 6 billion people now use the internet as of October 2025, per DataReportal, with global social media users reaching 5.66 billion -- equivalent to 68.7% of the world's population. India crossed the 1 billion internet user milestone, with 70% penetration. More than 1 billion people now use large language models and generative AI platforms each month.

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