The Middle East and Africa stand out for their consumption of long-form online videos, while Latin America leads in social media, short-form videos, online press and podcasts, according to the Global Media Intelligence Report 2026.
The report, published on October 29 by research firm GWI and presented by eMarketer, examines consumer media habits across 49 countries and seven global regions. Its findings highlight differences in how audiences allocate their time across digital platforms and traditional media.
The Middle East and Africa recorded the highest relative weekly usage of long-form videos, including vlogs, among the regions compared in the report. The finding points to the importance of longer online video formats in the region’s media consumption mix, alongside the short-form content that has become prominent across digital platforms.
The report also compares the region’s use of social media, short-form videos, streaming services, music streaming, mobile and console games, broadcast television, radio, online press, podcasts and print.
Latin America leads social and short-form video
Latin America emerged as the leading region for social media and short-form video consumption, including platforms such as TikTok. It also led in online press and podcasts, according to the report’s regional comparisons.
Worldwide, internet users aged 16–64 spent an average of seven hours and seven minutes per week on social media. Weekly time spent watching short-form videos was almost identical, at seven hours and six minutes.
These figures highlight the substantial role of social platforms and short-form video in consumers’ media routines. However, the report’s regional chart does not provide readable numerical estimates for individual regions, making it difficult to quantify the gaps between markets.
North America favours streaming and gaming
North America led in time spent using video-streaming services, such as Netflix, and music-streaming platforms. The region also recorded the highest relative usage of mobile gaming and PC or console gaming.
The findings underline the range of digital entertainment competing for audiences’ time in the region, from subscription video and music services to interactive gaming.
Western Europe, meanwhile, led in broadcast television and broadcast radio, indicating the continued relevance of traditional media formats in the region’s media mix.
Regional differences extend to news and print
The regional comparisons also revealed differences in how audiences consume news and other written content.
Latin America led in online press consumption, while South and Southeast Asia recorded the highest relative weekly usage of print media. North America ranked lowest for print consumption in the report’s regional comparison.
East Asia and Oceania recorded the lowest relative usage of social media and several entertainment formats, including short-form video, video-streaming services, music streaming and mobile gaming. The region also ranked lowest for long-form video consumption.
These comparisons illustrate why global media strategies may need to account for differences in regional consumption habits rather than assume that audiences engage with every format in the same way.
The report’s findings are based on respondents’ reported media use during the preceding week. GWI segmented respondents according to their total weekly usage of each media type and used the midpoint of each segment to calculate average weekly time spent.
