Content facts you need to know in 2025

High-quality content provides many benefits. It can vastly increase conversions, expand reach, raise awareness, and ultimately boost funds. But high-quality content requires time, dedication, intelligence, and a select set of skills that can take years to develop.

 

On top of that, creating high-quality content relies on an understanding of trends, audience behaviour, and consumption patterns. In short, creating great content depends on using the right information to make the right decisions, to pursue the right styles and forms, to ensure you’re meeting audience needs and desires.

 

Below we aim to give you the information that can inform your content creation process, looking at facts and stats on consumption, mobile content, podcasts, webinars, videos, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), and much more.

 

Skip to: Facts about content consumption

Skip to: Facts about content teams

Skip to: Facts about mobile content

Skip to: Facts about the written word

Skip to: Facts about video content

Skip to: Facts about podcasts and webinars

Skip to: Facts about AI and content

 

 

Facts about content consumption

 

It’s important to track content consumption patterns, so that organisations can consider upcoming trends. Consumption trends can show us how content is performing, the way customers like to receive content, the best channels to use, the various challenges on the horizon, and so much more.

 

Here is a statement that has proved constantly and consistently true, one year after the next: people are consuming more content than ever. There are more than five billion internet users worldwide, for example, which accounts for more than 63% of the global population, according to DataReportal.

 

People in the U.S. spend roughly eight hours per day online, according to HighSpeedInternet.com. The stats for Europe paint a similar picture. According to a poll commissioned by NordVPN, for example, Brits spend roughly 59 hours each week on the internet, which works out at more than eight hours per day.

 

The content marketing industry is worth more than $400 Billion, with projections suggesting it will grow close to $900 billion in 2028, according to a report from the Global Content Marketing Report. And content marketing has been cited as an important area of investment by 97% of marketers, according to SEMRush, and 46% of businesses directly plan to increase content creation spend in the next year.

 

That investment is warranted, according to some studies, as content marketing typically costs less per lead than other popular forms of marketing. And consumers seem to enjoy consuming content, with 82% of customers preferring brands that have an active content presence, according to Demand Metric.

 

So content is increasing. Content consumption is increasing. But so is disinformation. According to the Pew Research Center, for example, nearly two in three Americans (64%) say fabricated news stories cause a lot of confusion when it comes to basic facts. And 65% of study participants say web content is “hit or miss” or “unreliable’, according to Content Science, Content + Credibility Report.

 

Much of that stems from so-called fake news. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, for example, 57% of adults agree with the following statement, “The media I use are contaminated with untrustworthy information,” while 76% worry about “false information or fake news being used as a weapon”.

 

Consumers tend to trust traditional channels. A MarketingSherpa survey found, for example, that 82% of consumers trust print the most, followed by TV with 80%. So, in terms of content creation and marketing, opting for the more trusted and traditional channels may help avoid creating distrust.

 

That is a vital area that organisations need to address, especially because the absence of trust can undermine an organisation’s reputation. According to Reuters, for example, 87% of news consumers agree that advertising on a news site associated with a fake news story damages a brand’s reputation.

 

 

Facts about content teams

 

It’s important to look at the general make-up of content teams. How are teams producing content? What are the challenges they are facing? How are they addressing such challenges? Below we explore some core facts about content teams, including information on size, roles, responsibilities, and areas of growth.

 

Content teams are expected to produce more content than ever, but in most cases they remain small. Indeed, according to Content Operations Study, most content teams consist of six members or fewer. The three most popular content roles in such teams, according to SEMrush, are writers (54%), SEO managers (38%), and social media managers (30%), though the latter would not necessarily sit in a content team.

 

The most needed roles, according to Content Science Review, are content strategists (to identify and plan content opportunities), content analysts (to lead analysis and evaluation), content designers (to develop content for specific experiences), and content engineers (to enable dynamic content delivery).

 

These roles will help teams find opportunities and prepare content for the long-term. Many content teams, however, are already doing the basics very well. Consider, for example, the following statistics from Content Marketing Institute: 88% of organisations report having style and brand guidelines in place, 65% of organisations report having content governance guidelines, and 60% have a broad taxonomy.

 

Content teams have the basics in place but seem to struggle beyond that. Only 21% of content editors and writers describe their content workflows as ‘very efficient,’ according to Canto’s The State of Digital Content, 2023 Edition. Content teams need to think long-term and improve their strategising, perhaps beginning with the implementation of a content strategy and the creation of a content calendar.

 

 

Facts about mobile content

 

Consideration of mobile is essential for effective content creation. For far too long, charities and other organisations focussed on desktop and produced content that was hard-to-access and visually unappealing on mobile. That has changed in recent years but, as we shall see, the change has not been widespread enough.

 

Ensuring content is easily digestible on mobile has become increasingly important. More than 57% of traffic now comes through smart phones, as of March 2023, according to Statcounter.

 

And more than half (55%) of internet users use their mobile phones to purchase products online and nearly seven in ten (69%) say they use shopping apps on their mobile devices, whether that’s a phone or a tablet.

 

Indeed, according to Emarketer, consumers spend more time with their mobile devices than they do watching TV. The average adult spends at least three hours on a smartphone each day.

 

Apps are perhaps the most popular element of mobile internet usage. According to Smart Insights, for example, apps now account for up to 90% of time spent on mobile. That includes social media, email, and various other apps, which broadly lends weight to the idea that organisations should develop apps.

 

Mobile accounts for more than 50% of all opens on email, and mobile users check email three times more often than desktop users, according to a report from Campaign Monitor. That shows that, when considering email marketing, mobile accessibility should remain front of mind.

 

But that has not really happened. Organisations in general are not keeping up with the demands of mobile. Close to a third of brands, according to Forrester, are stuck in ‘shrink-and-squeeze’ thinking, simply adapting desktop content for mobile rather than ensuring that mobile content is prioritised, and only 10% are personalising experiences based on unique mobile data and features.

 

 

Facts about written content

 

The facts show that while other forms of content have ascended, blogs and articles, long-form and short-form, remain exceptionally popular. Below we track the continued popularity of the written word.

 

Written content remains popular. There are about 70 million posts being published each month by WordPress users alone and more than 77 million blog comments generated by WordPress readers every month.

 

According to research, if including blogs and all other written articles, each day we can expect around 4.4 million new posts across all platforms.

 

Written content is generally more time consuming than often presumed. According to Optinmonster, the average blog post takes 3.5 hours to write, which means it often takes a lot longer than a homemade recorded video, for example. Many content writers still edit their own work (46%), but 54% have their own editors, or at least someone viewing their work prior to publication.

 

Readers still consume written content. Research suggests that 77% of internet users continue to read blogs. And they have preferences. 43% admit to skimming, which means organisations should adapt articles to allow for skimmability (small paragraphs, easy language, pleasing aesthetics, and so on).

 

The ‘How to’ heading is the third most popular headline preference at around 17%. But, the greatest preference (36%) is the classic list-based headline, or listicle. And, interestingly, odd numbers perform better than even ones, so you should opt for ‘17 reasons to use odd-numbered lists’ rather than 16.

 

Written content still brings in huge audiences. According to HubSpot, for example, organisations that publish blog posts get 55% more website visitors than organisations that do not publish blogs. HubSpot also shows that companies who blog receive 97% more links to their website. And, on average, companies that blog receive 434% more indexed pages across the various search engines.

 

The average word count of published pieces is 1150 words. And length is certainly important. Kissmetrics reports that the average length of content in the top ten results of search queries consists of more than 2000 words. Google evidently favours long-form content.

 

And, importantly, blogs over 1500 words get an average of 68% more tweets and more than 22% more likes on Facebook. That social engagement, in turn, helps content to rank higher on Google.

 

SEO is the most important driver of written content. The SEO industry, according to Forbes, is worth more than $80 billion. SEO can drive a 14.6% conversion rate, according to Monster Insights, but it must be done right, with an effective conversion strategy, seamless user experience, and great user journey. For comparison, traditional strategies like direct mail have a conversion rate of 1.7%.

 

To understand the importance of SEO, consider that 93% of all online experiences start with search engines. And search engines drive ten times the amount of traffic as social media. Nailing SEO depends on occupying the first page, as 75% of users will not scroll past that page, according to Search Engine Watch.

 

Google remains the most important search engine, with more than 85% of market share, according to Statista. There are more than 7.8 billion searches performed each day in Google. On average, Google receives more than 102,000 search queries every second. And, to reiterate the importance of mobile, as we’ve shown above, 61% of all Google searches are performed using mobile devices.

 

So it’s obvious that written content can yield rewards for organisations. But they need to ensure the writing is SEO-optimised, especially if you want to reach new audiences. Writing, if it struggles to engage, can take longer than other forms of content, so it’s essential that you manage to get it right.

 

 

Facts about video content

 

Videos have risen in ascendancy in the past decade – and they continue to grow. Below we look at some key trends, exploring how people consume video, the style and length that the audience most enjoys, the most popular platforms for video content consumption, and much more.

 

3.25 billion hours of video are watched on YouTube each month, according to Fortunelords. In 2021, people spent 100 minutes a day watching online videos, up from 84 minutes a day in 2019 – and that number continues to grow. And that popularity is reflected in marketing trends.

 

According to HubSpot, 54% of people want to see more video from brands. Smart Insights suggests that 99% of marketers using video will continue to do so, meaning that it obviously yields results from the people who have already started that form of content creation.

 

That’s supported by stats from Wyzowl, which show that 78% of marketers say video has directly helped increase sales and 86% of marketers say that video has increased their website traffic. And, on top of that, putting video in emails can increase click rates by 300%, according to Biteable.

 

So video is clearly popular. But how are people consuming video. First, the popularity of mobile is obvious, with more than 50% of all video content is viewed on smartphones and tablets, according to Wordstream.

 

According to Biteable, 72% of people prefer to watch shorter videos to learn about products or services and 73% of videos from businesses tend to be shorter than two minutes, telling us that perhaps the best way to engage with audiences is by keeping videos short and sweet.

 

You should keep videos short, but also entertaining. According to HubSpot, 73% of consumers prefer seeing videos on social media that are meant to be entertaining. Personalised content increases retention by 35% and content that makes people laugh may improve conversions by up to 92%.

 

Simply put, the best content relates to the viewer, entertains and edifies, exists on platforms they enjoy, and is mobile-friendly, because consumers are always deterred from content not optimised for devices.

 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, YouTube is the most popular platform, with 87% of marketers using that social media site for their video marketing. Facebook comes second, according to Wyzowl, with LinkedIn following at third, which is perhaps more surprising.

 

And, according to LinkedIn, video content is apparently shared 20 times more often on that platform when compared to other formats.

 

 

Facts about podcast and webinar content

 

Podcasts and webinars have also been in ascendency. During the pandemic, people turned to these two comparatively new mediums to escape, to learn more about their specific topic of choice, or just for a little light entertainment. And podcasts and webinars have become increasingly important for charities and organisations, both in terms of raising awareness and raising funds.

 

Podcasts have become an increasingly popular form of content. There are more than 2.5 million podcasts listed in Apple Podcasts, according to Podcast Industry Insights, which means it’s a crowded field.

 

According to Infinite Dial, Edison Research and Triton, people in the U.S. aged 12 and older are most likely to listen to online audio using Spotify (31%), followed by Pandora (18%), and Google Play/YouTube Music (14%). It is likely similar patterns exist in Europe and the U.K.

 

So podcasts are popular. But they are particularly popular with certain demographics. Young adults are the most likely to listen to podcasts, according to Infinite Dial, Edison Research and Triton. The research found that people aged 12–34 are the most likely to say they listened to a podcast in the past month (50%) and that number declines as we move into higher age ranges.

 

The above is an essential stat for organisations to consider, especially when thinking of demographics. If you want to appeal to younger demographics, perhaps more investment in podcasts could provide an answer. If you want to grow older audiences, perhaps not. And plenty of other stats can help you make an informed decision. Consider the following from an infographic produced by Music Oomph:

• Podcast listeners are 68% more likely to have a postgraduate degree
• Podcast listeners are 56% more likely to be under graduates
• Podcast listeners are 45% more likely to earn more than $250k
• Podcast listeners in the U.S. are more likely to be male
• Around 50% of podcast listening is done at home
• Around 80% of listeners complete the entire episode

So if you’re aiming to reach graduates who earn a lot of money, podcasts might be the right directly. And podcasts are a great way to raise money, whether through seeking voluntary donations or through subscription models, largely because people are willing to pay for them. According to Edison Research, for example, almost half of the U.S. population are willing to pay for podcasts.

 

Organisation spend on podcasts is meeting a growing market, according to the Insider Intelligence Podcast Industry Report, with U.S. podcast ad spending surpassing $1bn in 2021 and projected to reach at least $1.6bn by 2024. And that may be money well spent, according to Adobe Analytics, as 60% of consumers surveyed reported that they’ve looked up a product or further explored a service after hearing an ad, and 25% of them have purchased a product they discovered through a podcast ad.

 

The figures from the U.K. paint a similar picture, with an increasing appetite for podcasts in Britain, as detailed by Cyber Crew. A Statista study conducted in the last quarter of 2021 illustrates that 59% of UK’s citizens have listened to a podcast at some point, while 71% of them were familiar with the podcast format.

 

A different Statista survey suggests that 79% of Britons listen to podcasts on their smartphones. Laptops and desktop computers followed with 15% of podcast listening time.

 

Webinars have also grown in popularity. Most marketing teams, according to ON24, see webinars as an essential part of their marketing strategy. And more than half of marketers rely on webinars for promotion, with studies suggesting that 2–5% of attendees eventually make a purchase at the end of the webinar.

 

And 89% of marketers believe that webinars outperform other forms of content when it comes to creating qualified leads, according to recent data published by Business Wire

 

Desktops are preferable for webinars, with 94% of participants opting to watch on traditional desktops and only 7% preferring mobiles and tablets. Email is the most effective webinar promotion tool to gain registrations, according to Inc.com, and 33% of registrations occur on the actual day of the webinar.

 

The best day for webinars, according to MegaMeeting, are Thursdays. Wednesdays are also a strong choice, ranking close to Thursdays in terms of preference. And the best times for webinars, according to Click Meeting, are 14:00, 15:00, and 16:00, but that can be complicated by time zones.

 

Webinars should be 60 minutes long, according to WorkCast, and it is vital that they are not too salesy, as that can effectively put off 78% of buyers, according to data from Brighttalk. You should include a Q&A session at the end and try to limit the time of each answer, so that you can cover more ground.

 

In short, both podcasts and webinars are increasingly popular forms of content, but they can take a bit more work to get right. If you’re looking for conversions, webinars may prove a strong option, but if you’re hoping to raise awareness and expand you reach, perhaps consider moving towards podcasts.

 

 

Facts about AI and content

 

AI has become the most talked-about piece of tech in recent months. The most talked-about element of that tech is generative AI, the AI that can use available information and data to draw, paint, create images, and create content. Below we look at some of the stats around AI.

 

Content bots like ChatGPT, Jasper.ai, and copy.ai are forms of AI technology that use natural language processing. They can be used to create a variety of content, from copy to digital adverts to code. Copy generated by Jasper is SEO-optimised and “passes plagiarism tests with 99.99% original content”, whereas Copy.ai promises to “produce better articles [than a human] with less effort”.

 

We’ve written at length about the increasing popularity of AI and content. We’ve made it clear that there are lots of risks when relying too heavily on AI.

 

But, risks or not, AI has become increasingly important to content teams. Even in 2021, according to Content Operations Study, 22% of organisations use machine learning or AI for content work such as distribution and generation. And that number has grown – and will certainly continue to grow.

 

The reasons for that increased usage are obvious. AI saves time and money. Bloggers who use AI spend approximately 30% less time writing a blog post, according to Don’t Do It Yourself. And 66% of bloggers who use AI primarily create How-To content.

 

The key to using AI for content creation is understanding the limitations. AI content is lower-quality than well-crafted human content, as AI lacks creativity and human experience. Much AI content is outdated, potentially biased, and potentially incorrect. People working with AI should practice caution, double-checking everything that the AI produced and ensuring accuracy at all times.

 

But, despite that, AI certainly will play a role in content in the future. And that certainty has led to a concern over content roles. But it’s worth considering the following: According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, AI-powered machines will replace 85 million jobs by 2025. According to the same study, AI will create 97 million new opportunities for employment by 2025.

 

For more information on AI, check out: Everything you need to know about artificial intelligence.