Pinoy Pride: Filipinos Lead the World in Vlogging and Influencer Consumption, Study Finds

The Philippines remains one of the more active social media centers in not just Southeast Asia, but also in the world. Video content, in particular, seems to be the medium of choice today. In fact, we actually lead the world in that regard, according to an annual report put together by Meltwater and We Are Social.

Digital 2024 looks at global social media and digital trends. With about 87 million internet users (nearly 74 percent of the population), the Philippines added more than 1.8 million users between January 2023 and 2024.

Notably, the average user spent 3 hours and 34 minutes on average on social media daily, which is good for fourth in the world. We trail only Brazil, South Africa, and Kenya in that regard. Similarly, the country ranked fourth for time used on the internet for social media at 40 percent. Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Indonesia are first, second, and third, respectively.

Filipinos especially love Facebook, as most users spend 26 hours and 54 minutes each month on average on the platform. Again, good enough for the fourth spot behind Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt.

For TikTok, the Philippines ended in the top eight for average time spent on the platform at 40 hours and 46 minutes monthly. Instagram, on the other hand, wasn't nearly as popular. Filipino internet users spent the least time on the app at only 2 hours and 41 minutes. The global average is 15 hours and 50 minutes a month.

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Leading the World in Vlogs Watched

About half of Filipino users from the ages of 16 to 24 watch vlogs and influencer content, with an average of 50.7 percent per week. We lead the world in this category. The next closest country to our level of consumption is Morocco, where only 32 percent of the age group watched vlogs per week.

Nearly half of Filipino social media users follow "influencers and other experts," as well, clocking in at 43.9 percent. Again, we are a world leader. To put things in perspective, the global average is at 22.6 percent. Meltwater and We Are Social also found that 97.2 percent of Filipino internet users aged 16 to 64 consumed video content weekly, the highest worldwide. Although the global average is at 92 percent here.

What Kind of Content Are Filipinos Watching?

It turns out that Filipinos are the first in the world in viewing online music videos. The report indicated that three out of four Filipino internet consumers from the ages of 16 to 24 spent 72.7 percent of their time watching such content. The global average is 49.7 percent.

Two out of five of them, meanwhile, listen to music through streaming services. Interestingly, this doesn't mean that Filipinos pay for such services, as only 22 percent are recorded to pay for online music streaming.

For how-to videos and tutorials, Filipino internet users are second in the world in these aspects at 58.3 percent.