Digital Consumer Trends 2026

Key findings

Artificial Intelligence

We asked respondents which best described their Gen AI usage.

As of May 2026, 63% of consumers have used a Gen AI application at some point in their life, such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Anthropic Claude.

One in ten (10%) consumers use a Gen AI application daily, though in greater London it is almost double this rate, at 18%. The daily usage rate has accelerated relative to the prior year.

That said, daily usage compares poorly to search, social media and other longer established applications. 

If you’d like to explore this year’s report findings in greater depth or understand how they might impact your organisation, please get in touch via the contacts below.

We asked respondents to what extent they agreed or disagreed with the statement: “Generative AI always produces factually accurate responses."

Interestingly, over a quarter (27%) of AI users (and those who use it in the workplace) still do not realise that Gen AI is a probabilistic tool that may generate inaccuracies, and whose outputs should be checked.

To read more about the findings around Artificial Intelligence, download the report.

Online Experiences

Online safety remains an important and ongoing issue. As part of our research, we asked respondents whether they would favour or oppose banning social media use for under-16s.

Our study showed, three in four (75%) of women in the UK favour child safety and a social media ban for under-16s and over half of Gen Z (52%) also favoured a ban even when they are the generation that has grown up with social media.

How do you think the generations answered the rest of the online experience questions? Download the report to find out.

Devices

Device ownership is now widespread, but which devices do consumers rely on most? We asked respondents which of the following devices they own or have ready access to.

The transformation in consumers’ digital device ownership appears largely complete. No new device categories have entered the mainstream this decade, with smart glasses, despite being on the market for 14 years, still used by just 2% of consumers.

To explore more insights on smart entertainment, device purchasing, and emerging trends, download the full report.  

Videos

Streaming services are now a standard part of everyday entertainment. We asked consumers how many they use, what prevents them from subscribing to more, and how artificial intelligence is shaping film and television.

One notable finding from our research was that audiences are open to AI being used behind-the-scenes and operational tasks, but they still want human input to remain central - on screen, in audio, and in the writing process.

To discover more insights on entertainment, streaming services, and video trends, download the full report now