Facts & Figures // Social Media Statistics for 2021

• Social media, now at 1 hour 46 minutes per day, accounts for roughly one-third of the time spent online, making it the second most popular media activity for Australians after watching television.
• 98% of Australian internet users aged 16-64 still use a conventional search engine, over 1 in 3 users turned to social media to gather information about brands they were considering.
• In January 2021, Australia had 20.5 million social media users with social media penetration in Australia is currently at 80%.
• TikTok was also the second most downloaded mobile app in Australia last year – unsurprisingly, after Zoom.
• With travel and mobility curtailed, 75% of Australians went online to do their shopping, creating a large spike in a wide range of markets; fashion, groceries, electronics, DIY, hobbies, and over two-thirds of 55-64 year olds regularly went online for their purchases.
• While overall digital ad spend only grew by 1% across the board, there was a 2% increase in social ad spend during 2020, with total investment in Australia reaching almost USD $2 billion (which equates to AUD $2.51 billion at today’s exchange rate).

• In what will be a surprise to no one, screen time is on the rise, with the typical internet user now spending almost 7 hours per day on connected devices.
• We’re spending more time watching television, but our behaviours are changing - the world’s internet users now spend an average of 1 and a half hours per day on streaming services such as Netflix, almost equal to the 2 hours per day on broadcast and cable.
• Between July and September, more than 180 million more people used social media compared to the previous three months - double the growth rate reported back in January.
• Social media accounts for a third of our screen time - more than 10 billion hours per day worldwide (more than a million years of human existence!)
• Increased usage has been most pronounced across younger age groups, but a third of internet users aged 45 to 64 also told GlobalWebIndex that they’re spending more time using social media as a result of coronavirus lockdowns.
• Women are more likely to have increased their social media activities compared to men, with almost two-thirds of women aged 16 to 24 saying they’re spending more time using social media.
• Despite already spending more time on social media than any other country, the Philippines has seen the greatest number of people reporting an increase in the amount of time they’re spending on social platforms.
• In Italy – one of the first Western countries to experience a complete lockdown – the number of group calls on Facebook Messenger involving three or more users increased by more than 1,000 percent in March alone, while people across the country have also increased the time they spend using Facebook-owned apps by more than 70 percent.
• Despite lingering concerns about privacy, teleconferencing service Zoom was a clear winner, with the company revealing that it now has as many as 200 million daily active users – 20 times more than pre-pandemic levels.
• GlobalWebIndex finds that tutorials and how-to videos are amongst the top kinds of content that consumers want more of during the COVID-19 crisis, and these may represent a particularly compelling opportunity for B2B brands.
• “Coronavirus” was the third most frequently entered search query across the whole of Q1, but the query topped the rankings in March, generating more than twice as many searches as the perennial top term, “Google.” It’s still up there in Q3, coming in as the eleventh most frequently entered search query.
• 65% of people surveyed said how brands respond to the pandemic will have a 'huge impact' on their likelihood to buy that brand in the future.
• In Australia, eCommerce has been booming since late March. The financial year (FY20) saw 35.4% YOY growth in online purchases.
• As Victoria moved into restrictions in July, online purchases rebounded even higher than the April peaks. A third of online purchases made in July were made in Victoria. In the six weeks prior to 22 August 2020, Victoria recorded the highest number of online purchases in its history.
• The category which saw the highest growth was Home & Garden (82%), followed by Food & Liquor (76%) and Health & Beauty (71%).
• A third of Australian shoppers report that they are purchasing less from overseas. 57% say it’s because they want to support Australian businesses and the Australian economy more.

• Only 23% of social marketers use social data to measure ROI and 16% use social data for competitive insights.
• 44% of internet users worldwide use social media when looking for information about brands.
• 45% of consumers say they’re more likely to research a product or service when an employee posts about it, compared to only 32% saying they’ll do so if a celebrity posts about it.
• 69% of social marketers say increasing brand awareness is their number one goal for social media.
• 96% of people talking about brands on social media aren’t following those brands.
• 91% of users want brands to be authentic with their social media content.
• 89% of consumers say they will buy from a brand they follow on social media and 84% will choose that brand over a competitor.
• 75% of consumers say they’ll increase their spending with brands they follow on social.
• The majority of both social marketers (74%) and consumers (68%) said they planned to use Facebook more in the coming year; additionally, 53% of social marketers and 34% of consumers plan on using Twitter more.
• As social marketers target younger audiences, they need to keep an eye on the change in platform usage. Facebook reigns supreme with Millennials and older, but members of Generation Z prefer YouTube (87%) and Instagram (85%).
• Half of consumers say they’re most likely to use social media during a major personal milestone and 45% say they’re on social media during a sporting event.

Why do consumers follow brands?

• 57% of consumers will follow a brand on social media to learn about new products and services.
• 47% of consumers follow brands to stay up to date on company news
• 40% of consumers want to learn about promotions and discounts.
• As for which types of content consumers want to engage with, 68% say they prefer to interact with images while 50% like to engage with video content.
• 44% of consumers also say customer service distinguishes a brand from its peers.
• 40% of consumers expect brands to respond within the first hour of reaching out on social media, while 79% expect a response in the first 24 hours.
• Average brand response rates by industry reveal that legal and real estate businesses have the highest average response rate (29%) while sports have the lowest (7%).
• 54% of consumers welcome brand posts during sporting events.

Why do consumers unfollow brands?

• Consumers are very uninterested in seeing brand posts during a natural disaster (14%).
• 51% of consumers will unfollow a brand if the content shared is irrelevant. 43% will unfollow if they see too many ads and 35% if they see too many promotional posts.
• 19% of people will unfollow a brand based on poor hashtag usage.

What about Australian consumers?

• One third of Australian consumers agree that they will inspect a brand’s social media presence before making an online purchase if they have not purchased from their website before.
• Among Australian consumers using Facebook and Instagram, 84% and 48% respectively claim to be following brands or businesses on those platforms. Females and those aged between 18 and 39 are above average in this behaviour.
• 82% of Australian consumers following brands or businesses on social media are keen on accessing benefits like discounts (62%) and give-aways (47%) from them. SMBs who offer incentives (39%) are in tune with this, being most likely to offer discounts (67%) and giveaways (45%).
• Over half of Australian consumers said they are more likely to trust brands if they interact positively with customers on social media (51%), make their content engaging and relevant (54%), and keep it regularly updated (53%). Among females and those aged 18-29 and 30-39 we find 60% or even more displayed such trust.
• 23% of Australian consumers like sponsored posts from businesses they follow on social media. However, 53% agree that they ignore sponsored posts from businesses they don’t follow, with only 15% disagreeing.
• 25% of Australian consumers share brand content they have noticed on social media. This is done by around one third of those aged 18-39.
• 37% of Australian consumers feel comfortable about having any of their content being posted on a brand channel. The older the person, the less likely they are to feel comfortable about this.
• 65% of Australian SMBs invite online comments, ratings or reviews and 62% engage with people who provide feedback about their business via ratings and reviews on social media.
• 43% of Australian consumers provide online ratings for a wide range of products or services, averaging seven in the last year. This incidence is higher for females and those aged 18-39.
• Over two thirds of Australian consumers (68%) read online reviews or blogs to find out what others think about products or services of interest. They average reading seven reviews before making a purchase decision.
• 42% of Australian consumers have posted online reviews or blogs on products and services or entertainment, averaging six in the last year.
• If a business gets back to the consumer after they posted a bad review, 26% of Australian consumers said it would change their opinion of that business. Those aged 18-29 were above average in giving this response (39%).
• Twenty-two per cent of SMBs say they’re concerned about receiving negative reviews or ratings online.

• One in five SMBs (21%) do not have a strategy to drive traffic to their social media channels.
• Small businesses are less likely than medium businesses to have a social media strategy (26% vs 13%). Similarly, businesses in regional areas are less likely to have a strategy in place than businesses in metro areas (28% vs 17%).
• Thirty-four per cent of businesses in the cultural and recreational industry do not have a social media strategy.
• The most prominent way for SMBs to drive traffic to their social media channels is through links on their business website (50%)
• Liking, following or subscribing to other businesses or users on social media is another relatively popular method (26%).
• Leading reasons why Australian SMBs use social media are to promote the business (33%), create awareness and exposure (28%), connect and interact with their consumer base (19%) and generate sales (17%).
• Sixty-three per cent of Australian SMBs use social media channels to engage in two-way communication with customers and contacts.
• For the majority of SMBs, their social media presence is made up of written content, photos, images and videos. This remains consistent across small to medium businesses and industries and locations.

Social Media Budgets and Advertising 

• One in four SMBs (25%) do not allocate any of their marketing budget to social media costs.
• By industry, the average budget allocation for social spend ranges from 10% in building and construction to 15% in retail, finance and insurance.
• 79% of SMBs manage their social accounts internally, rather than asking someone else to do it.
• When SMBs seek social media support it’s most likely to come from digital agencies (32%), freelancers (26%) or specialist social media agencies (19%).
• On average, SMBs expect their social media spend will increase sales by 12%

• Medium businesses are more likely to advertise on traditional media (21%) or on other websites (19%) than small businesses.
• Businesses continue to advertise on social media with 37% of the surveyed SMBs saying that they have paid for advertising.
• Advertising on social media is more common among medium sized businesses than in small businesses (44% vs 34%) and in metro areas as opposed to rural (41% vs 31%).
• The wholesale industry leads the pack as being most likely to advertise on social media (54%), meanwhile cultural and recreational services are the least likely to (26%).
• The average estimated annual expenditure by Australian SMBs on social media advertising is just over $3,000. Together with their average estimated expenditure on content and strategic management services (almost $2,300 on each), Australian SMBs spend a total of almost $7,600 on their social media each year. As a percentage of their marketing budget (where one exists) this amount represents 12% on average.
• Among the Australian SMBs who have advertised on social media, Facebook (83%) has been used much more than others such as Instagram (22%), LinkedIn (16%) or Twitter (12%). Regardless of the social media channel used for advertising, around 80% of Australian SMBs say it was effective.
• Aussie SMBs are a generous bunch, with 37% saying they offer incentives to current and potential customers via social media. This practice is most common in the wholesale (56%), hospitality (55%) and retail (54%) industries. Among the incentives offered, the most popular types are discounts (67%) and giveaways (45%).
• Only 5% of SMBs admit to paying social influencers to promote their business. Of those who did pay to use social influencers, 61% say the tactic was successful.

The figures below are based on monthly active users, active user accounts, advertising audiences and unique monthly visitors.

1. Facebook - 2.7 billion
2. YouTube - 2 billion
3. WhatsApp  - 2 billion
4. Facebook Messenger - 1.3 billion
5. Weixin/WeChat - 1.2 billion
6. Instagram - 1.15 billion
7. TikTok - 689 million
8. QQ - 648 million
9. Douyin - 600 million
10. Sina Weibo - 523 million
11.  Qzone - 517 million
12. Snapchat - 433 million
13. Reddit - 430 million
14. Kuaishou - 430 million
15. Pinterest - 416 million
16. Telegram - 400 million
17. Twitter - 353 million
18. Quora - 300 million

Below is the number of internet users in each region compared against population.

• Northern Europe - 95%
• Western Europe - 92%
• Northern America - 88%
• Southern Europe - 83%
• Eastern Europe - 78%
• Western Asia - 72%
• Southern America - 72%
• Oceania - 70%
• South Eastern Asia - 66%
• Central America - 66%
• Eastern Asia - 63%
• Caribbean - 60%
• Southern Africa - 60%
• Central Asia - 54%
• Northern Africa - 53%
• Southern Asia - 48%
• Western Africa - 36%
• Eastern Africa - 23%
• Middle Africa - 22%

Below is the number of social media users in each region compared against the population.

• Eastern Asia - 71%
• Northern America - 69%
• Northern Europe - 67%
• Southern America - 67%
• Central America - 64%
• South Eastern Asia - 63%
• Southern Europe - 59%
• Oceania - 57%
• Western Asia - 56%
• Western Europe - 54%
• Caribbean - 51%
• Eastern Europe - 49%
• Northern Africa - 39%
• Southern Africa - 36%
• Southern Asia - 27%
• Central Asia - 22%
• Western Africa - 13%
• Eastern Africa - 8%
• Middle Africa - 6%

Below are the top ten countries globally for mobile internet connection speed.

1. South Korea
2. China
3. United Arab Emirates
4. Qatar
5. Netherlands
6. Norway
7. Saudi Arabia
8. Canada
9. Bulgaria
10. Australia

Below are the top ten countries globally for fixed internet connection speed.

1. Singapore
2. Hong Kong
3. Romania
4. Switzerland
5. Thailand
6. France
7. Denmark
8. Monaco
9. Hungary
10. United States

Below is the average times internet users aged between 16 - 64 spend on different media devices:

• Using the internet - 6 hrs 55 mins
• Using social media - 2 hrs 29 mins
• Watching TV - 3 hrs 29 mins
• Listening to music streaming services - 1 hr 34 mins
• Using a games console - 1 hr 14 mins

Below is a list of the top mobile apps globally by average monthly active users, excluding China:

1. Facebook
2. WhatsApp Messenger
3. Facebook Messenger
4. Instagram
5. Amazon
6. Twitter
7. Netflix
8. Spotify 
9. Tik Tok
10. Telegram

Below is a list of the top mobile apps globally by total downloads between July and September 2020:

1. TikTok
2. Facebook
3. WhatsApp
4. Zoom Cloud Meetings
5. Google Meet
6. Instagram
7. Facebook Messenger
8. Snack Video
9. Telegram
10. Snapchat

Internet users aged 16 - 64 who report using the below categories each month.

• Social networking apps - 86%
• Messenger apps - 81%
• Map apps - 74%
• Entertainment or video apps - 67%
• Shopping apps - 57%
• Banking apps - 47%
• Music apps - 46%
• Games - 40%
• Health and fitness apps - 26%
• Dating and friendship apps - 8.5%

Most Popular Australian Apps

The information below is based on monthly active users during 2019.

1. Facebook Messenger
2. Facebook
3. Instagram
4. WhatsApp Messenger
5. Spotify
6. Snapchat
7. Netflix
8. Ebay
9. Commbank
10. Microsoft Outlook

Most Downloaded Australian Apps

The information below is based on number of downloads during 2019.

1. Facebook Messenger
2. Netflix
3. Spotify
4. Instagram
5. Tik Tok
6. WhatsApp Messenger
7. Facebook
8. Uber Eats
9. Snapchat
10. Stan

Australian Consumer Spend on Mobile Apps

Below is the ranking of mobile apps by consumer spend.

1. Tinder
2. Netflix
3. YouTube
4. Bumble
5. Optus sport
6. Kayo sport
7. Bigo Live
8. LinkedIn
9. YouTube music
10. Google One

• 22% of Australians use an image search tool.
• 23% of Australians watch video content on a TV by casting it from a mobile phone.
• 23% of Australians scan QR codes.
• 25% of Australians use their mobile phone as a ticket or boarding pass.
• 45% of Australians transfer money to friends or family with a mobile app.
• When it comes to online transactions, 74% of women and 77% of men make purchases.

Below is the percentage of Australian internet users between 16 - 64 who perform the following actions each month.

• Searched online for a product or service to purchase - 84%
• Visited an online retail store - 76%
• Purchased any type of product online - 70%
• Made an online purchase by either a laptop or desktop - 47%
• Made an online purchase by a mobile phone - 33%

Below is the total spent by Australians on different E commerce categories.

• Travel and accommodation - $19.9 billion
• Fashion and beauty - $6.93 billion
• Electronics and physical media - $3.86 billion
• Toys/DIY/hobbies - $3.84 billion
• Food and personal care - $3.02 billion
• Furniture and appliances - $3.05 billion
• Video games - $435 million
• Digital music - $327 million

How internet users in Australia aged 16 - 24 claim they are finding out about new brands.

1. Search engines - 42%
2. TV ads - 42%
3. Word-of-mouth - 38%
4. Social media ads - 26%
5. In-store displays - 25%
6. Product brochures - 24%
7. Brand or product websites - 24%
8. Ads on websites - 22%
9. TV shows or films - 22%
10. Direct mail or email - 18%