Social media has become the top source for brand discovery among younger consumers, according to a new report from consumer intelligence firm Meltwater and Plus Company agency We Are Social.

The 700-page “Digital 2026” report takes a deep look into global trends across the digital ecosystem as well as the evolving behaviours of users, and what that means for brands. For its analyses the report crunches data from a number of partners: GWI, Statista, GSMA Intelligence, Similarweb, Semrush, Ookla, SocialInsider and Skai.

Here are some of the key findings.

Social media

There are now 5.66 billion social media user identities globally – equivalent to 68.7% of the population – though the report does not account for how many of those may be duplicate or false accounts but acknowledges that user identities “may not represent unique human individuals.”

In the past 10 years, the global social media user total has increased by close to 3.4 billion users, an average of more than 28 million new users every month or nearly 1 million new users per day. There’s “absolutely no evidence that social media might be dying,” the report says.

When it comes to social apps, YouTube has the largest number of active users, the report says, followed by WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. And while TikTok ranks fifth in terms of user numbers, it boasts more average time spent than any other platform, at one hour and 37 minutes per day.

Brand discovery

Ads on social media are the third most important source of brand discovery overall (30.4%) – after search engines and TV ads – though they are the top driver among younger audiences: 34.2% of 16- to 24-year-olds and 32.1% of 25- to 34-year-olds use them to learn about new products and services. For those aged 35 to 44, social media ads rank second, behind search. 

Search remains the top channel globally for brand discovery overall among those 16 and older (32.9%), followed by TV ads (31.8%).

Ad spend

The world’s marketers are projected to spend $1.16 trillion (all figures US) across all channels in 2025, an increase of 6.5% compared with 2024 levels though still slower growth than in past years. In Canada, that represents ad revenue as 1.1% of GDP, putting it in eighth place (the U.K. ranks first, with ad revenue representing 1.65% of GDP).

Digital channels will account for close to three-quarters of total ad spend in 2025 (74.4%), up from 72.7% in 2024. 

The single largest share of spend goes to online search advertising, projected to reach $352 billion in 2025 – more than doubling since 2020, when it was $170 billion.

Advertising on social media continues to grow, as well, with global spend projected to increase by 13.6% year-over-year to reach $277 billion in 2025 – or more than $5 billion per week – accounting for 32.1% of total digital ad spend, up from 28.7% in 2020. 

Online video ad spend is expected to reach $208 billion this year; online banners ads $185 billion; and influencer ads $39.3 billion.

Online retail advertising (which includes a portion of spend on other digital channels) now accounts for nearly a quarter (23.7%) of total digital ad spend, to reach $204 billion this year, while traditional TV advertising is projected to be $146 billion.

Digital TV content

Digital access has fundamentally changed TV viewing, with 91.7% of adults consuming some form of streaming TV content each month and 94.6% watching online video in some form, across various devices. 

Connected TVs are the device of choice for 31.6% of adults overall, but younger audiences are less likely to use CTVs, while the 35-54 age group are the most likely.

A greater proportion of the world’s connected adults still watch traditional TV each week (73.5 percent) than watch streaming TV platforms (69.9 percent), but in terms of time spent, streaming services now account for half (50.4%) of all TV watching globally.

AI

Extrapolating data from multiple sources, the report puts global use of stand-alone AI platform use at more than 1 billion people, with plenty of scope for user numbers to increase based on nearly half (48.7%) of online adults saying they are “excited” about AI.