In today’s internet age, digital marketing is a must for almost any brand targeting almost any market. People just love their smartphones and computers, clicking and swiping to keep in touch with friends and family, check the latest news, or watch entertaining videos to amuse themselves. But have you ever wondered just how long the average internet user spends online every day? Have you ever wondered which countries’ netizens spend the most time online? The infographic below lists five countries where the average internet user spends, on average, over 9 hours online every day. Yes, you read that correctly, over 9 hours! Do any of these countries surprise you?
Which countries spend the most time online per day?
The recently-published Webcertain search and social report 2023 looked at 57 countries around the world. Out of these 57 countries, five saw its internet users spending on average over 9 hours online per day. As you can see in the infographic above, the five countries with the most time spent online per day were:
- South Africa: The average internet users spends 9 hours and 38 minutes online per day.
- Brazil: The average internet users spends 9 hours and 32 minutes online per day.
- Philippines: The average internet users spends 9 hours and 14 minutes online per day.
- Argentina: The average internet users spends 9 hours and 1 minute online per day.
- Colombia: The average internet users spends 9 hours and 1 minute online per day.
South Africa, really?
Many people may be surprised to see South Africa at the top of the list. South Africa is not a particularly digitally mature country, with only around 6 in 10 people being online. It is a similar story for Brazil and Colombia, which despite being in the top five when it comes to length of time spent online per day, still have around 20% of their citizens still to come online.
Many people may incorrectly assume that the amount of time spent online goes up as internet penetration goes up, but that is not the case. The two metrics do not seem to be particularly correlated. So, even though the five countries above may not have particularly high levels of internet penetration (yet), digital marketing is still extremely important as part of a local marketing strategy, since those people who are online, spend a huge amount of time online. So, if you are targeting any of the countries listed above, make sure to dedicate a good chunk of your marketing efforts to digital.
Want to learn more?
Were you surprised to see South Africa at the top of the list? It goes to show the importance of relying on data, rather than assumptions, when creating your international digital marketing strategies. To learn more fascinating facts and stats about how digital marketing works in 57 different countries, check out the Webcertain search and social report 2023 by clicking the button below!
Data sources
The statistics quoted in this blog post come from the Webcertain search and social report 2023, which quotes data from DataReportal.
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