Socially led creative agency We Are Social and media, social, and consumer intelligence platform Meltwater have released Digital 2026: Indonesia, their latest annual report on social media and digital trends in the country.
The report reveals that the number of social media users in Indonesia has grown by 26 percent year on year, reaching 180 million—equivalent to 62.9 percent of the population. Social networks remain the most visited type of website or app, followed closely by chat and messaging platforms.
“Social media has become deeply ingrained in Indonesia’s daily life — it’s not just where people connect, but where they discover, decide, and act,” said Yudhi Hastiardi, Managing Director, Indonesia at We Are Social.
“From entertainment to ecommerce, social sits at the heart of the digital experience. For brands, this means showing up in the right moments, on the right platforms, and speaking the language of culture that truly resonates with Indonesians.”
The battle for attention
Social continues to capture the attention of Indonesians who spend an average of 21 hours and 50 minutes on social media, including time spent watching online videos, each week. That is equivalent to more than three hours each day. This time is split across an average of 7.7 platforms each month.
WhatsApp is the most frequently used social platform, with nine in ten declaring they are active on it each month. The messaging app is also Indonesia’s favourite social media app. TikTok and WhatsApp are almost neck and neck for average daily time spent per user in the platform’s Android app. Active users clocked 1 hour and 53 minutes and 1 hour and 52 minutes, respectively, in each.
When it comes to sustaining attention, YouTube captures the longest average session duration at 16 minutes and 49 seconds. Snackvideo followed closely behind with an average of 15 minutes and 4 seconds per session.
Social driving brand discovery
The report additionally highlights the important role social media plays in brand discovery. Aside from staying in touch with family and friends, filling in spare time and finding inspiration for things to do and buy are the top reasons Indonesians use social media.
While search engines continue to be the top source for brand discovery (38.3 percent), social media ads (37.3 percent) and social media comments (32.6 percent) follow closely behind. In the past month, approximately a fifth of internet users clicked or tapped a sponsored social media post. Social networks are also the primary channel for online brand research with three in five Indonesians using it for this purpose.
ChatGPT is winning the AI race
Digital 2026: Indonesia provides evidence that generative AI platform use – in particular, ChatGPT – is growing exponentially. More than a third of Indonesians are using ChatGPT each month. Similarweb ranks ChatGPT as the fourth most visited website in Indonesia, while SEMrush ranks it eighth. The OpenAI-owned platform now accounts for 80.6 percent of AI web traffic referrals. Perplexity ranks in second place, driving 15.03 percent of AI web traffic referrals.
Social & influencer ad spend continues to climb
The total estimated ad spend for 2025 is US$6.97 billion, up 5.3 percent or $348 million year-on-year. Digital ad spend makes up 52% of total ad spend, increasing 8 percent to $3.64 billion year-on-year. Social media advertising accounted for the highest share of digital ad spend, growing 11.3 percent year-on-year. Influencer advertising also increased 14.4 percent year-on-year.
Other social media highlights
- Males aged 25-34 is the largest audience demographic for Meta, making up a fifth of its audience across all platforms.
- TikTok has the highest reported advertising reach in Indonesia, reaching 180 million people with nearly 100 percent adoption rate among females aged 18+.
- More than a quarter of Indonesians watch influencer videos and vlogs each week.
- Watching a brand video and following a brand on a social network are the most popular ways consumers interact with a brand online after visiting its website.
Highlights from the wider digital ecosystem
- There are 230 million internet users in Indonesia, up 8.7 percent and equivalent to 80.5 percent of the population.
- Google retains the top spot for search referrals but its share has declined slightly by 1.7 percent year-on-year.
- More than two-thirds of Indonesians consume streaming content each week but linear television still captures marginally more consumption time.
- 99 million people have purchased consumer goods via online channels with 67.6 percent of purchases made via mobile.
- Food is the most popular ecommerce category, accounting for an estimated $13 billion in annual spend from consumers.
- Over half (56.1 percent) expressed concern about what is real vs what is fake on the internet.
You can read the full report here.
