The Essential List of Content Marketing Statistics and Data

Knowledge is power — but only if your knowledge is actually based on accurate information. Finding reliable content marketing statistics and data on which you can base your marketing decisions can be difficult — but it’s not impossible.

Use this list of research and data to help you make wise and informed content marketing decisions.

Content marketing statistics for SEO

• 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search. (Junto)
• More than 90 percent of smartphone users search on their device each year. (eMarketer)
• Of all web searches in the United States, clicks on search ads occur less than 3 percent of the time. (Jumpshot)
• SEO leads to 20 times more traffic opportunities than pay-per-click on desktop and mobile devices. (Moz)
• A full 15 percent of the searches Google sees every day are searches the company has never seen before. (Google)
• The average content length of articles at the very top of web search query results is 2,416 words. (serpIQ)
• More than half of search traffic comes from mobile devices. (statcounter.com)
• More than 85 percent of U.S. web users search online at least once a month. (eMarketer)

Content marketing statistics for local search

• Searches with the phrase “near me” are growing faster than comparable searches without this added phrase. (Google)
• More than 80 percent of potential customers prefer to use smartphones for local search. (Brandify)
• A full 61 percent of smartphone users want ads customized to their current location. (Search Engine Watch)
• More than half of consumers are likely to visit a location the same day after searching. (Brandify)
• “Near Me” searches have risen 900 percent since 2015. (Advice Local)
• More than 3 in 4 consumers use Google Maps when searching for nearby businesses. (Brandify)

Searches with the phrase 'near me' are growing faster than comparable searches without this added phrase. #searchmarketing Click To Tweet

Content marketing statistics for email

• Companies see $40 ROI for every $1 they spend on email marketing. (SmartInsights)
• Across all industries, the average email open rate is 17.8 percent. (CampaignMonitor)
• The best time to send an email is around 10 a.m. (GetResponse)
• 4.3 billion people — more than half the world’s population — will be using email by 2023. (Statista)
• 91 percent of marketers rate email as an “important” strategic channel. (Data & Marketing Association)
• “Welcome” emails experience an average open rate of higher than 80 percent. (GetResponse)
• Tuesdays see the highest open rates — and the highest unsubscribe rates. (CampaignMonitor)
• Personalized email subject lines yield a 58 percent higher click-to-open rate. (Data Axle)
• Triggered emails have a more than 2x higher open rate than newsletters. (GetResponse)
• Government emails see a 30.5 percent open rate — the highest of any industry. (CampaignMonitor)
• A total of 80 percent of content marketers use email content to nurture their audiences. (Content Marketing Institute)

Content marketing statistics for social media

• More than 3.5 billion people worldwide now use social media. (HootSuite)
• More than two-thirds of adults in the United States use Facebook. (Pew Research)
• A full 90.4 percent of millennials in the United States are social media users. (eMarketer)
• 41 percent of social media users say it helps them feel more connected to others in real life. (Global Web Index)
• Nearly 3 in 4 marketers believe their efforts on social media are effective or very effective. (Buffer)
• A full 67 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds in the United States use Instagram; 62 percent use Snapchat. (Pew Research)
• Nearly 3 in 5 fashion and beauty brands use influencers in their social marketing efforts. (Fashion and Beauty Monitor)
• More than half of Instagram’s one billion daily active users use Instagram Stories. (Facebook)
• Almost 70 percent of B2C marketers say they have developed social media stories in the last 12 months. (CMI)
• People spend more time viewing ads on Twitter than other major social platforms. (Twitter)
• More than 200 million Instagram users visit a business profile at least once per day. (Instagram)
• More than 72 percent of U.S. adults use at least one social media site. (Pew Research)
• More than 90 percent of social media marketers use Facebook for advertising. (Invesp)
• A full 70 percent of marketers use social media listening tactics to research their target audience. (CMI)

A full 67% of 18- to 29-year-olds in the United States use Instagram; 62% use Snapchat. #socialmedia #marketing Click To Tweet

Content marketing statistics for YouTube

• YouTube has two billion active users across the globe. (Statista)
• More than 1 in 4 people globally use YouTube to discover and access news content. (HootSuite)
• More than 90 percent of U.S. internet users between the ages of 18-44 say they use YouTube. (Cast from Clay)
• Mobile devices account for more than 70 percent of YouTube watch time. (YouTube)
• YouTube users watch more than a billion hours of content every day. (YouTube)
• Nearly two-thirds of brands publish their video content on YouTube. (Buffer)
• A full 90 percent of YouTube users say they have discovered new products or brands through YouTube. (Google)
• Nine out of 10 digital video viewers watch videos on YouTube. (eMarketer)

Content marketing statistics for video

• A full 92 percent of marketers who use video say video content is an important part of their marketing strategy. (Wyzowl)
• Web users spend nearly seven hours per week consuming digital video content. (Limelight)
• Consumers report that video content is their favorite type of content to view on social media. (Animoto)
• Almost everybody — 96 percent of consumers — have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product. (Wyzowl)
• A total of 85 percent of internet users in the United States watch digital videos every month. (Statista)
• Video content is viewed in the United States on smartphones more than any other device. (Limelight)
• Viewing video ads from brands is the top way consumers learn about a new product before purchasing. (Animoto)
• 87 percent of marketers say that their marketing efforts have increased their website traffic. (Wyzowl)

A full 92% of marketers who use video say that video is an important part of their marketing strategy. #video #marketing Click To Tweet

Content marketing statistics for live video

• Nearly 60 percent of marketers use live video to market their products and services. (Social Media Examiner)
• A full 80 percent of consumers would rather watch a live video than read a blog post. (Livestream)
• Two-thirds of viewers of livestreamed events purchased a ticket to a similar event. (Livestream)
• Breaking news is the type of live video people watch most, followed by conferences and concerts. (Livestream)
• 20 percent of Facebook videos are live broadcasts. (Facebook).
• More than two-thirds of consumers who stream do so at least once per day. (IAB)
• More than 3 in 5 individuals who have streamed a live video have engaged with a sponsored ad while streaming. (IAB)
• Twitch doubled the average amount of concurrent live streams on the platform from 2018-2020. (TwitchTracker)
• More than 40 percent of individuals say they watch TV less because of more digital livestreaming options. (IAB)

Content marketing statistics for mobile

• More searches now occur on mobile devices than on desktop computers. (GlobalStats)
• 10 percent of Americans can only be reached through smartphones. (Pew Research)
• A full 96 percent of 18- to 29-year-old Americans own a smartphone. (Pew Research)
• Americans spend more than 3.5 hours per day on their mobile devices. (eMarketer)
• The leading mobile app category is digital audio, with Americans utilizing 50 minutes on mobile apps per day. (eMarketer)
• More than 90 percent of millennials have compared online deals on a mobile device. (Statista)
• More than half of shoppers have completed an online purchase from a mobile device. (Pew Research)
• Users spend nearly 70 percent of their media time on their smartphones. (Comscore)
• More than half of mobile users claim they use mobile devices to discover new products and brands. (BrightEdge)
• Three in four smartphone users expect to receive immediate information while using their devices. (Google)
• Sixty percent of smartphone users have contacted a business directly from results from a search query. (Google)

The leading mobile app category is digital audio, with Americans utilizing 50 minutes on mobile apps per day. #digitalaudio Click To Tweet

Content marketing statistics for blogs

• The average blog post takes just under four hours to write. (Orbit Media)
• The number of articles published with 3,000+ words in length has more than doubled from 2014 to 2019 in major industries. (ClearVoice)
• A full 3 in 5 consumers say they enjoy reading brand content when it is relevant. (Demand Metric)
• The average amount of time a reader takes with a web article is about 37 seconds. (NewsCred)
• Companies with blogs see an average of 67 percent more leads than those without blogs. (Demand Metric)
• Two-thirds of bloggers who report “strong results” publish blog content daily. (Orbit Media)
• More than one-third of all sites on the web are powered by WordPress. (W3Techs)
• More than 70 percent of B2B buyers consume blog content while on their buyer journey. (Content for Demand)
• More than 70 million new posts are published on WordPress each month. (WordPress)
• B2B marketers are more likely to use blog content in their marketing efforts than B2C marketers. (Social Media Examiner)
• A full 86 percent of content marketers use blogging as part of their marketing strategy. (SEMrush)
• Using the 20/20 rule for refreshing pillar, long-form blog posts periodically can increase average organic search traffic 143%. (Conductor)

Content marketing statistics for lead generation

• Email marketing and event marketing are the two most commonly used B2B lead generation strategies. (DMN3)
• A full 85 percent of content marketers claim lead generation is their most important content marketing goal. (CMI)
• Four in five customers say that a company’s customer service is as important as a company’s products. (Salesforce)
• Nine out of 10 customers say that seeing a video helps them make purchasing decisions. (Forbes)
• Webinar presentations are the most likely pieces of B2B content to be behind gated registration forms. (BrightTALK)
• Nearly two-thirds of customers say that they are more likely to buy after seeing a video. (Forbes)
• Almost half of podcast listeners listen to podcasts while at home. (Edison Research)
• LinkedIn lead generation is successful for nearly two-thirds of B2B companies. (LinkedIn)
• A lack of funds, staffing, and time is the biggest obstacle for 3 in 5 marketers. (BrightTALK)
• Four in five B2B marketers say that their efforts are only somewhat effective or slightly effective. (BrightTALK)

A full 85% of content marketers claim lead generation is their most important content marketing goal. #leadgen Click To Tweet

Content marketing statistics for advertising

• Facebook and Google receive more than half of all digital ad spend dollars annually. (eMarketer)
• B2B marketers are more likely to use LinkedIn in their marketing efforts than B2C marketers. (Social Media Examiner)
• Facebook generates more than 21 billion in digital ad spend in the United States annually. (eMarketer)
• B2C marketers are more likely to use Facebook ads than B2B marketers. (Social Media Examiner)
• Google generates nearly 40 billion in digital ad spend in the United States annually. (eMarketer)
• Digital ad spend has now surpassed traditional ad spend. (eMarketer)
• A full 70 percent of marketers utilize Facebook ads. (Social Media Examiner)
• Two in five marketers utilize Instagram ads in their social media marketing efforts. (Social Media Examiner)
• Facebook is the ad platform more marketers want to learn about, with 72 percent responding so. (Social Media Examiner)
• More than 1/3 of marketers agree the reach of their organic marketing efforts has decreased. (Social Media Examiner)
• The average click-through rate for a PPC ad is two percent. (WordStream)

Content marketing statistics for messaging apps

• The United States has 25 million WhatsApp users. (Statista)
• WhatsApp has more than 2 billion monthly active users. (Statista)
• WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat each have more monthly active users than Instagram. (DataReportal)
• More than 3 billion people worldwide use mobile messaging apps. (eMarketer)
• A full 87 percent of smartphone users utilize a mobile messaging app at least one time per month. (eMarketer)
• More than 21 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds in the U.S. never use group chat functions of SMS and messaging apps. (Statista)
• Nearly 70 percent of internet users in the U.S. who make more than $100k per year use Facebook Messenger. (Statista)
• The average time spent on mobile messaging apps in the United States is 24 minutes per day. (eMarketer)
• Snapchat is the world’s fifth-largest messaging app, behind WhatsApp, Messenger, WeChat, QQ, and Telegram. (Statista)
• The U.S. is one of only a few countries that doesn’t predominantly use WhatsApp (Messenger is top). (MessengerPeople)
• The most-used mobile messaging features for U.S. adults are group chats and sending media. (Statista)
• Only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults report that gaming is their most-used mobile messaging app feature.  (Statista)

WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat each have more monthly active users than Instagram. #smm #marketing Click To Tweet

Content marketing statistics for content strategy

• More than 1 in 4 adults report they are almost always online. (Pew Research)
• The world’s overall global digital population is just more than 4 billion people. (Statista)
• Nearly two-thirds of organizations have not documented their content strategy. (Content Marketing Institute)
• One-third of marketers say that their content workflow is either poor or fair. (Content Marketing Institute)
• More than 90 percent of people on Twitter plan to make a purchase from a business they follow. (Twitter)
• More than 3 in 4 organizations use personas to assist in their content strategy efforts. (Content Marketing Institute)
• Nearly half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 report to be online almost constantly. (Pew Research)
• A full 85 percent of adults in the United States between the ages of 18-49 use multiple devices at once. (Google)
• Three in five webinar registrations happen in the week before the webinar. (GoToWebinar)
• Nearly 60 percent of webinar registrations are a result of email marketing. (GoToWebinar)
• Time spent on mobile devices accounts for nearly 70 percent of all time spent online. (Comscore)
• Nearly 79 percent of marketers say white papers are the content they are most likely to share with colleagues. (Curata)
• Roughly one-third of marketers rate their company’s content marketing level as “mature.” (Content Marketing Institute)

Content marketing statistics for podcasts

• A full 20 percent of Americans listen to audiobooks. (Pew Research)
• About 15 percent of Americans listen to a podcast at least once per week. (Edison Research)
• Almost half of podcast listening occurs in the home. (Podcast Insights)
• More than 30 million podcasts episodes are available to listen to. (Podcast Insights)
• A full 86 percent of Americans between the ages of 12-34 listened to online audio in the last month. (Edison Research)
• Online audio users in the United States spend more than 15 hours per week consuming audio content. (Edison Research)
• Nearly 4 in 5 people who listen to podcasts through smart speakers listen alone. (Nielsen)
• A full 3 in 4 Americans are now familiar with the concept of podcasting. (Edison Research)
• More than 3 in 5 people are more willing to consider purchasing products or services they learn about in a podcast. (IAB)

A full 86 % of Americans between the ages of 12-34 listened to online audio in the last month. #podcasting #marketing Click To Tweet

More helpful articles to better inform your content marketing:

• Top 25+ Content Marketing Studies and Research Reports
• Word Count Trends in 25+ Industries: VoiceGraph Study of 24 Million+ Articles
• How to Use Data in Your Storytelling
• Top Content Marketing Trends (With Examples)