Digital 2027 Global Overview: 6.15 billion online, 3.24 billion using generative AI.

DataReportal published its Digital 2027 Global Overview Report on 21 October. Written by Simon Kemp with partners We Are Social and Meltwater, it puts internet users at 6.15 billion and finds the year's sharpest change in generative AI, which now has an estimated 3.24 billion monthly users.

Most of the headline figures describe the world at the start of October 2026. Survey findings come from GWI's second-quarter 2026 wave, and app data from Similarweb.

Key findings

• Internet users rose by 54 million, or 0.9%, in a year to 6.15 billion. Kemp believes real growth is considerably higher because data is reported late, and close to 2.17 billion people remain offline.
• Social media user identities grew by 151 million to 5.81 billion, 69.9% of the population. Kemp cautions that identities may not represent unique individuals.
• Manochi, the analysis firm Kemp co-founded, estimates 3.24 billion monthly active users of generative AI platforms, 38.9% of the world's population and more than 1.2 billion more than a year earlier. People with several accounts may be counted more than once.
• ChatGPT has about twice as many monthly active users as any other platform, according to Similarweb, and GWI puts its users at more than 1.1 billion online adults in the second quarter of 2026.
• Gemini's app users in August 2026 were more than 23 times their August 2024 level, and Claude's were 17 times their level a year earlier.
• Facebook (58.1%), Instagram (56.6%), YouTube (56.2%) and WhatsApp (54.9%) are each used by more than half of online adults in a month. Instagram is the most-named favourite platform at 17.8%, just ahead of WhatsApp at 17.1%.
• TikTok leads for daily time per user on mobile, at 1 hour 55 minutes, ahead of Instagram at 1 hour 40 minutes. People now spend 19 hours 18 minutes a week on social and video platforms, 42 minutes more than a year ago.

Companion reports published the same day add two sharper findings. Traffic to the world's top 10,000 web domains is down by more than 10% since ChatGPT launched in November 2022, and online adults in Saudi Arabia (33.8%) and the UAE (33.4%) are more likely than the 26% worldwide to use AI when researching purchases. Figures for individual markets are in the companion Country Headlines Report.

How the research was done

The report pulls together several data sources rather than running one survey:

• User totals and penetration rates as of the start of October 2026.
• GWI's survey of internet users aged 16 and over in the second quarter of 2026. The companion AI report puts that wave at more than 235,000 respondents in 53 economies.
• GSMA Intelligence for unique mobile users.
• Manochi's estimates of generative AI users.
• Similarweb data on app use in August 2026.

Kemp flags where the numbers may undercount or double-count: internet growth is understated because of late reporting, and social media identities and AI accounts may not equal unique people.

What it means for marketers

Kemp's advice is measured. No single channel introduces even one in three online consumers to new brands, so a varied mix still matters, and brands should resist trying to be active on every social platform. Most people are not yet handing purchase decisions to AI, he finds. "There are no silver bullets," he writes.

For brands in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the market figures matter most. AI-assisted purchase research is already above the global average in both, which makes it worth checking what assistants say about a brand in Arabic and English, while social and video platforms keep their hold on people's time.

About this report

Published by DataReportal, October 2026. Free. Get the full report from DataReportal

Sources

• DataReportal, Digital 2027 Global Overview Report, 21 October 2026
• DataReportal, Digital 2027: AI Use Around the World, 21 October 2026
• DataReportal, Digital 2027: The Steady Decline of the World Wide Web, 21 October 2026