What The Digital 2027 Report Tells Brands
For fifteen years the Global Digital Reports series has offered one of the most complete pictures of the digital world. The Digital 2027 report, produced in partnership with We Are Social and Meltwater, was published on 21 October 2026. Running to more than 900 pages, it brings internet, social media, artificial intelligence, search and e-commerce habits together in one place. The Turkey edition followed on 5 November 2026 on DataReportal.
In this article we have selected the findings from the Digital 2027 report that bear most directly on brand decisions. We start with the global picture and the data for Turkey, then look at how the purchase journey is shifting. The final section turns these numbers into concrete steps for 2027 plans. Every figure comes from the sources listed at the end of the article.
The core message of the report can be summed up briefly. People spend more time online every year, spread that time across more channels and consult several sources before they decide. For brands, being visible now calls for planning that reaches beyond strength on a single platform.
What The Digital 2027 Report Shows In Numbers
Three Major Thresholds In The Global Picture
According to the report, 6.15 billion people were using the internet in October 2026. That equals 73.9 percent of the world’s population. On mobile there are 5.86 billion unique users. Social media user identities reached 5.81 billion, equal to 69.9 percent of the population. The report’s author, Simon Kemp, expects the 70 percent mark to be passed in early 2027.
The standout figure of the year comes from generative AI. The number of people using these tools every month has risen to 3.24 billion. More than one in three people worldwide now turn regularly to a platform such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude. 1.2 billion new users were added in a year, an annual growth rate of 57.2 percent. As with social media, the report uses the idea of user identities here. Because one person can hold more than one account, these numbers are best read as an indication of scale.
Among platforms, ChatGPT keeps its lead with twice as many monthly active users as its nearest rival. Similarweb data shows that users of Gemini’s mobile apps more than quadrupled in a year. Claude reached 17 times more active app users in August 2026 than a year earlier. Most AI use happens in mobile apps, and these tools are becoming an ordinary part of daily life.
Time spent on social media is also growing. Internet users worldwide spend an average of 19 hours and 18 minutes a week on social media and online video platforms. That is 42 minutes more than last year.
Most of that time is concentrated on a handful of platforms. Similarweb’s mobile app data puts YouTube first for total time spent. WhatsApp and Instagram follow very closely, with TikTok and Facebook behind them. No app outside these five reaches a tenth of the leader. When users are asked for their favourite platform, Instagram comes first at 17.8 percent, followed by WhatsApp at 17.1 percent and Facebook at 13.3 percent.
What The Turkey Data Says
According to the Digital 2027 Turkey report, the country of 88 million people has 79.5 million internet users. Internet penetration stands at 90.4 percent. There are 85.9 million active mobile connections. The median age of the population is 33.9 and 82.9 percent live in towns and cities.
Social media user identities number 61 million, equal to 69.3 percent of the population. Among adults aged 18 and above the share rises to 89.1 percent. The total shows a decline of 2 percent on last year. The report stresses that declines of this kind mostly stem from corrections platforms make to their advertising data and do not point to an equal fall in real use.
Turkey has a distinctive profile in platform preferences. GWI research shows that 89.2 percent of internet users aged 16 and above use Instagram every month, 89 percent use WhatsApp and 79 percent use YouTube. Facebook follows at 67.9 percent, X at 54 percent, TikTok at 49.3 percent and LinkedIn at 24.6 percent.
In advertising reach, YouTube reaches 61 million users, Instagram 60.2 million and TikTok 51.5 million among adults aged 18 and above. TikTok’s ad reach grew by 14.8 percent in a year. LinkedIn membership in Turkey rose to 25 million, an annual increase of 19 percent. LinkedIn reports this figure on the basis of total registered members.
Facebook’s ad reach stands at 33.2 million and X’s at 16.6 million. Of social media user identities in Turkey, 47.4 percent are female and 52.6 percent are male. 76.7 percent of internet users use at least one social media platform.
On time spent, Turkey sits well above the world average. According to the report’s Turkey figures as covered in the press, internet users devote 26 hours and 18 minutes a week to social media and short video. That is 7 hours more than the global average. When all online media consumption is counted, the weekly total reaches 43 hours and 28 minutes. Infrastructure supports this use. Ookla data puts the median mobile download speed in Turkey at 133 Mbps.
This picture draws a clear frame for brands operating in Turkey. The audience is largely online, mobile first and at home with video. Instagram and YouTube offer strong ground for broad reach, while LinkedIn stands out as a growing space for brands that want to reach a professional audience.
The Balance Is Shifting In The Purchase Journey
Search Engines Stay In First Place
GWI data shows that search engines rank first among the channels where people discover new brands, at 32 percent. TV ads follow closely at 30.6 percent and social media ads at 30.4 percent. The real message lies in the table as a whole. No single channel reaches even one in three consumers by itself. The typical internet user discovers new brands through 5.82 different channels, a figure that has risen by more than 4 percent in two years. We looked at how search behaviour is spreading across channels in detail in our article Google, TikTok and AI: The Fragmentation of Search Behavior.
Search engines also lead at the research stage. 45.3 percent of internet users turn to search engines before buying. Two years ago the figure was 51 percent. Social networks come second at 41.8 percent. Among 16 to 24 year olds, social networks are the first choice at 46.9 percent.
Overall use of search engines is in slow decline as well. The share of people who say they used a search engine in the past month fell from 82.8 percent to 80.3 percent in two years. Younger users hold a surprising place in this picture. After retirees, 16 to 24 year olds are the group most likely to use search engines. Kemp expects search engines to stay at the top of both the discovery and research rankings through the end of 2027.
Advertising budgets reflect this picture too. Statista data shows marketers worldwide are on track to spend 376 billion US dollars on search ads in 2026, and search continues to take the largest share of digital ad spend. Kemp considers this weight justified for near term ad budgets. For longer term visibility work, he suggests adding efforts aimed at appearing in AI answers alongside SEO.
AI Gains Strength At The Research Stage
AI tools sit at the bottom of the top fifteen channels for brand discovery. 17 percent of internet users say they meet new brands through AI. The picture changes at the research stage. 26 percent of users get help from AI before a purchase, lifting this channel to sixth place. Among 18 to 24 year olds the share climbs to 31.6 percent.
The report draws an important distinction here. Consumers lean on AI more and more to make sense of their options, while still making the decision themselves. 60.4 percent of AI users turn to these tools to find information and 40.6 percent to get advice on problems. Our GEO guide walks through how to make product and service content visible in AI answers, step by step.
The gap between countries is wide too. In Nigeria, 51.3 percent of adult internet users use AI when researching purchases, while in Japan the figure is 10.7 percent. Across much of Europe and North America it stays below 20 percent.
A similar trend is visible in Turkey. According to figures covered in the press, 50.7 percent of AI users in Turkey use these tools to find information and 34.6 percent to get advice. Microsoft’s AI Diffusion Index of September 2026 shows that 18.9 percent of the working age population actively uses generative AI tools.
Brand Websites Keep Their Importance
One of the most discussed findings of the report is the decline in web traffic. Similarweb data shows that total traffic across the world’s 10,000 most visited domains fell by 6.8 percent over the past two years. Total time spent on the web dropped by 11.2 percent in the same period. Kemp points to the rise of mobile apps as the main reason and underlines that AI is one factor among several.
The same data carries a positive sign. Pages viewed per visit rose from 6.54 to 7.18 in two years. Visitors who do arrive are more committed and browse more pages.
The change in traffic does not move the same way in every sector. Over the past four years, traffic to news and media sites fell by 36.1 percent and to reference sites by 33.2 percent. Travel and tourism sites grew by 24.9 percent, and business and consumer services sites by 4.6 percent. Traffic is also concentrating on large sites. The 20 most visited domains take 44.1 percent of all traffic across the top 10,000 sites.
This affects advertising as well. Traffic to sites that carry advertising fell by 14.8 percent in two years. 22 percent of internet users say they discover new brands through ads on websites. It is worth reviewing reach targets in display advertising plans with this data in mind.
Brand websites hold their place in the purchase journey. 32.9 percent of internet users visit brand and product sites before buying. Brand sites rank fourth among research channels and sit ahead of AI tools. Among the ways people interact with brands online, visiting the website is the most common behaviour at 42.7 percent.
What is more, AI models keep brand sites among the sources they rely on most when answering product and purchase questions. A current, clear and well structured website speaks to people and to AI at the same time.
A 2027 Roadmap For Brands
Video Content Has Moved Ahead Of Television
GWI data shows that 92.1 percent of internet users watch online video every week. The share watching television content is 86.1 percent. Weekly time given to online video is 12 hours and 5 minutes, while all forms of television account for 9 hours and 58 minutes.
App data points the same way. Average daily time per user is 1 hour and 55 minutes on TikTok, 1 hour and 40 minutes on Instagram and 1 hour and 28 minutes on YouTube. Instagram is also the world’s favourite social platform, named as their favourite by 17.8 percent of users.
Given the reach of Instagram and YouTube in Turkey, video holds a central place in a brand’s communication plan. Short videos offer strong ground for discovery, and longer formats for building trust. To produce short and long formats under a single plan, you can explore our video content production service.
Steps That Turn Data Into A Plan
The findings in the report can be carried into 2027 plans through the steps below.
• Broaden the channel mix. Consumers discover new brands through an average of six channels. Results grow stronger when search, social media and video are planned together.
• Keep your website current. Clear, accurate and structured information on product and service pages serves as a source for visitors and for AI tools alike.
• Approach search visibility in a way that also covers AI answers. Question led content and clear definitions pay off on both sides.
• Produce video regularly. Deriving different formats for Instagram, YouTube and TikTok from a single shoot makes efficient use of the budget.
• Set the goal when choosing platforms. The report notes that the contribution of each new channel falls quickly beyond three or four platforms.
• Test your decisions against your own data. Global averages show direction, and your brand’s own audience data has the final say.
Kemp’s overall advice matches these steps. Building processes that adapt quickly to change, instead of trying to predict the future, prepares brands for every scenario.
Email Is Back On Stage
One of the report’s surprise headlines is email. 76.4 percent of internet users say they used email in the past month, the highest level GWI has recorded in this dataset. Among 16 to 24 year olds use stands at 78.9 percent.
Kemp stresses that alongside social media and AI platforms, where algorithms set the terms, email is one of the few channels that remain under a brand’s control. A regular newsletter is a valuable way to carry the relationship built on social media into the brand’s own space.
Voice assistants return to the agenda in the report as well. 23.1 percent of internet users say they used a voice assistant in the past week to find information or complete an action. Given the investment AI companies are making in voice interaction, this is an area worth watching in the period ahead.
The Digital 2027 report shows the importance of a balanced channel mix. Search is strong, social media is growing, AI is settling in fast and the website remains the shared foundation for all of them. The high amount of time spent online in Turkey opens wide ground for brands that get this balance right.
At Retzking, we help brands read this data against their own goals and produce video, social media and web content under a single plan. You can get in touch with us to shape your 2027 content plan with current data.
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