US Digital Users: eMarketer's Estimates for 2018

Executive Summary

Nearly 280 million people, or 85.0% of the US population, will go online at least once a month in 2018. With smartphone adoption slowing, growth is expected to be less than 2% this year and remain low throughout the forecast period. The biggest shifts occurring among the US digital audience are no longer device-related, but rather, based on activities.

• At this point, just about everyone who wants a smartphone already has one. User growth will rise just 4.2% in 2018 to 229.2 million people. Seniors ages 65 and older will be the only audience to experience double-digit percentage growth of smartphones this year.
• Approximately 83.0% of internet users will use a mobile phone to go online. Desktops/laptops are still widely used, as 84.0% of digital users are expected to use them to visit the web this year. Meanwhile, 16.0% will exclusively use a mobile device for internet access.
• Digital video viewing remains the most popular digital media activity among US internet users, as nearly 82% will watch this type of content regularly in 2018. Digital audio listening and social networking will be close behind, at 72.0% and 71.2% of internet users. Digital gaming will trail with 57.5% of internet users.
• The number of US tablet users will grow 2.3% to 171.0 million in 2018. Though that audience is less likely to use tablets for audio listening and social networking, gaming and video viewing haven’t suffered similar declines.